Our second son, Sahil -was born on 18-Sep 2000, at the turn of the century.

PORT CREDIT-MISSISSAUGA-SEP 7-2018-With Nana-Nani-Mama-ji ..many lovely hours spent walking and meditating, discussing, where we have been, where we are, where we are going.

His first school of L’avenir-The Future in Gnostic Centre, Delhi. This year he passed out of Gordon Graydon Mississauga and joined Ryerson University-Toronto.

SAHIL-2002-During his L’avenir days-Palam Vihar

On Tuesday, 18 th Sep, we celebrated his 18^th birthday, in a unique birthday-celebration with Nana-Nani-ji having come from Malad-Mumbai.

Ten years ago- we were staying in Malad-and studying in Pinnacle High school.

SOME WALKS TOGETHER-VISITS FROM EXTENDED FAMILY

WALKS IN YESTER-YEARS-2010

2010-Dec-Walks together-Xlendi Gozo see Friends of Bouazizi – Year End diary-2011 Meeting –Tripoli Reading Group- 2011- http://wp.me/piL5Q-iP

In celebration –we gathered together and said some prayers, remembering our forefathers.

Remembering my Parents…Prem Narain and Nirja Bhatt

On this unique birthday, I remembered some points taught to me by my father, which would add value to their insights into different systems.

My father-Prem Narain Bhatt, an alumnus of All India Institute of Medical Sciences-AIIMS-Delhi-1958 batch and Armed Forced Medical College-Pune-MD Anesthesia-1972 and Christian Medical College-advanced training in Cardiac Anesthesia-1974, was a veteran of the Indian Army Medical Corps, and also participated in different community programs in the hills of Garhwal, from where our family originally is.

In the past year, some members of our family transitioned from High school to Professional training. And hearing them and their struggles I remembered my own struggles and how a professional course is so much different from a high school study.

So I sat down for some time, and tried to summarize some of the things which my father taught me, in his own gentle ways. Though he is not physically present with us, his teachings are a living presence

A NOTE ABOUT HIGHER ACADEMIC STUDIES

BROAD OUTLINE-The five steps for higher studies

1-Study Topic beforehand

2-Prepare Revision Flash Cards

3-Have a study-buddy

4-Have a study-revision plan

5-Prepare for Co-op

A FEW DETAILS..On these five steps

1-Study Topic beforehand

Try to study the topic before the lecture, so that you gain more by the lecture, and can even clarify the points which are not clear.

2-Prepare Revision Flash Cards

Higher professional studies are more difficult than school level studies.

Try to make Revision flash cards which you will review briefly for around 15 minutes every day, and for a longer period-around 90 minutes at the end of the week.

This technique I first saw my father use when he was studying for his Doctorate in Anesthesia in 1971-72- he had many flashcards with the drugs, their usage, indications, contraindications, which he would revise regularly

3-Have a study-buddy

Study Buddy-Joint revision with a study partner will really help.

If one has a peer group-one can mix and match-study and come to know which classes are held where, and then revise the concepts together.

4-Have a study-revision plan

This is a refinement of the above three points, but takes it a step further by having self-preparation questions, and also reviewing the long questions and short questions of a particular subject from beforehand, so that one knows what will be tested, and how, and what will be expected of a student in the coming exam at end of term and course.

5-Prepare for Co-op

In Canada, in-house training is known as Co-op.

Though in India, we do not call it co-op, we have many such experiences, when one has to walk along with a practitioner and he introduces you to the concept of the subject, as it is practiced in the field.

This may take the form of taking rounds of a clinical ward and then sitting down and analyzing one of the cases in greater detail- right from the presentation and history to the findings, treatment plan, and follow-up. Or in the case of Medical Radiology, I benefited immensely from seeing the reports of my mentors, then going back to the books and studying the case again, and refreshing the points which were covered in the reports.

EARLIER PERSPECTIVES

Birthdays are a time to reflect and look back at one’s experiences as a family, group and try to see where we were, where we are going and how best to integrate the different threads of family life.

SAGAR IS TEN-2009

See blog https://prashantbhatt.com/2009/02/23/sagar-is-ten/

Gerard Hopkins, in his work The Child Is Father To The Man, reflects on both the relationship of a man to his father and the relationship of a man to God. It provides commentary on the human aging process and also allows Hopkins to think spiritually about the divinity and humanity of Christ.

SAHIL IS FIFTEEN-2015

Non Profits and Voluntary organizations – to build Functioning communities

The writer Peter Drucker said that the predominant need in our culture was for individuals to make their lives useful to themselves and others, and he believed that non-profit organizations were best suited to do that.

According to Peter, non profits organizations were most effective in establishing “the functioning community and functioning democracy of tomorrow”.

This year, through a deeper touch with some such voluntary organizations which impact culture, like Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Zoo, Ontario Science centre, Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archives, YMCA, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Riverwood conservancy, we explored the themes of Functioning community.

See Blog https://prashantbhatt.com/2015/09/17/walks-with-sahil/

For more nuanced examples

2016- Walks with Divya

https://prashantbhatt.com/2016/03/27/walks-with-divya/

DIVYA-NOTES-OCTOBER 28,2011-On visits to Purana Quila, Khan Market and National Museum-Delhi

And the times when I would sit in Jasola, and tell her to write joint journal together. Of the times we went walking to Purana Qila- and then saw the Company school paintings of Thomas Daniels, which she also saw in the National gallery of Modern Art.

My teacher asked me how I knew about Telly Kittle and Thomas Daniels, and I told of our trips together to National Gallery of Modern art, India Gate, Zoo, Sri Aurobindo ashram and many other sites of Delhi region.

Now she is 18 and maybe a bit too old to be told to sit and write about what she saw in Lodhi gardens or write a brief summary of the play we saw together in Sri Ram Centre.

But those memories will remain fresh

2017-Birthday Musings

The home is the lens, through which we get our first look at marriage and all civic duties. It is the clinic where , by conversation and attitude, impressions are created with respect to sobriety and reverence, it is the school where lessons of truth or falsehood , honesty and deceit are learned, it is the mould which ultimately determines the structures of society

Perry Webb-quoted in Today Matters-by John Maxwell

See blog

https://prashantbhatt.com/2017/03/01/reflections-through-architecture-learning-talks/