In 1972 I visited Chennai as a student and Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan granted us a brief meeting. Meeting great persons is so electrifying. Every September, on the Teachers’ day I remember the meeting.

And also this photograph of my granddaughter reminds me of the teachers’ day. Children’s ability to learn is so amazing.

A couple walked quickly as if they had to go a long way. With the man carrying a load. Such pictures tell stories, a different one to each viewer. 

A man with his empty handcart was walking down the street. He was happy and was speaking to someone on his mobile. I hurriedly clicked. Using mobile while driving is prohibited, how about while pulling a handcart? Isn’t it interesting that a handcart puller also owns a mobile?

The road, ‘B Cabin road’ as it is called colloquially in Thane city presents interesting sights. In the evening a rush of people comes for Thane railway station, most of them busy on their mobiles. They are rushing towards the railway station. Some travel on bikes – even though it is one-way, others take hurried strides to catch the train. In this melee, there is steady flow of buses and the bus drivers’ skills and patience are tested to the hilt.

But you will not see a fight, somehow this chaos works! After all we are a ‘functioning anarchy.’ And people are packed in those buses like sardines, but they do not complain.

Frustration is like a bubble in a pond; it comes up and attracts attention. It also indicates presence of something deep down. The inscription on this huge white board is ‘Too many police, Too little justice.’

In this depressing milieu, I found a ray of hope. I visited an Ashram Shala At Hirve Gaon near Mokhada (about 150 Kms from Mumbai). I was surprised to see a 3D printer – Yes, a 3D printer – in their Science lab.

An Ashram Shala is a residential boarding school, particularly common in the tribal areas of India, including Maharashtra and Thane, that provides free lodging, mess facilities, and education to students, often from Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities, to bridge educational gaps and promote socioeconomic development.

Ashram Shalas (Ashram Schools) lack resources so badly that I would imagine it is the last place to find a 3D printer.

Yes, things are changing, we have to look at the world with new eyes. And we must remember what Ansel Adams said, ‘There are always two people in every picture: The photographer and the viewer.’

Vivek S Patwardhan

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” All matter copyrighted.