Monday, June 26, 2017

Anjali - The Class Speech on Leonardo da Vinci

New class. New teacher. New adjustments.
'I want to do some extra work in class,' said Anjali.
I was surprised that she wanted to do extra work. I'd be happy to let others do all the work. But it seemed that she wants to do her bit, extra work or whatever.

So Anjali was elated when her teacher chose her to speak on Leonardo da Vinci (on whom their class is named) at their school assembly.

She took out her card with the information on Leonardo da Vinci, walked up and down, rehearsing her lines and when she was ready, told me a few lines about da Vinci. He was from a town called da Vinci in Tuscany, and painted the Mona Lisa, Vitruvian Man and the Last Supper, was an expert at many subjects, an important figure in the Renaissance period and so on and so forth. While she spoke we discussed what a polymath is, how da Vinci was to be pronounced and more importantly Renaissance, and a couple more things like where Tuscany was etc. I learned a few things along the way too.

She read it, rehearsed practiced and after many trials went back to school and presented her part. It was not easy but she stuck to her task. Next day she was pretty pleased with her performance and that was that.

I wonder when people get like this. What drives them to do extra work, take up more responsibility, do a good job. Well she seemed quite happy at the end of it so I guess that in itself is a reward. I guess pride comes in when you have to prove yourself, to yourself and the world, It's an attitude I'd like to explore some more, to see what drives such behavior - to want extra responsibility, to prepare for it, to want to be recognised for it.

It's extra work but it's also extra recognition.

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