00:00Talking about the Poetry Cleanse, what inspired you to write this particular book?
00:04And also, do you have any favorite poem from the book that is closest to your heart?
00:07Sail, sail and sail, or the ship will fail. Set the commissary to rescue the ship from misery.
00:15Sail the ship of hope to reach the top to the destined shore from the cold.
00:25How is the experience of writing a poem different from writing an academic book?
00:30Writing a textbook, you have got the matter around. It is not something that you created.
00:37But writing a poem is entirely different. You are in a very different mood.
00:43How do you encourage your students to think creatively because you have both in you?
00:47As students, when we do something good, they get inspired.
00:54It is not that we have to try hard to inspire. Our journey, if we make up, we build up something
01:01and we have got something to share to them and for them, that is an inspiring sense.
01:10Hello and welcome. You are watching One India.
01:13Today, we are in conversation with Vinod Pillai R, a passionate educator, author and poet,
01:19whose journey beautifully blends physical education and literature. From inspiring students in the
01:26classroom to writing textbooks and poetry, he believes learning should touch both the heart and the mind.
01:34His latest book, The Poetic Lens, is a reflection that poetry can teach, heal and inspire.
01:40With over eight years of teaching experience at Jindal Vidyamandir Ratnagiri and several published
01:48works through his name, he continues to prove that creativity and education can go hand in hand.
01:55Let's hear more about his story, inspirations and what keeps him motivated as a teacher and a writer.
02:02Hello, sir. Welcome to One India. Thank you so much for joining us.
02:05Talking about the Poetic Lens, what inspired you to write this particular book?
02:09And also, do you have any favorite poem from the book that is closest to your heart?
02:13I don't remember exactly the words.
02:18Whatever I have written it down, let it come in that way.
02:22Sail, sail and sail, or the ship will fail.
02:26Set the commissary to rescue the ship from misery.
02:30Sail, sail the ship of hope to reach the top to the destined shore from the core.
02:42Wind may turn to stone and your mind may speak to go back home, but go on till you get what you seek.
02:54The day when you reach the shore, people will speak the great law of the great man who found this beautiful den.
03:07You are the knight who has to fight the strong and the might till you reach the land out of sight.
03:16This is the time to decide whether to be called a zero or a hero.
03:24For the world ahead is a prideful ride and the world behind is a shadow that has died.
03:31It is the demand of the hour to see all your power to guide the ship to the land not in the world's lip.
03:46The far off land was reached by those who believed in what they preached and the brave men who stood
03:56head up in every mood, had up in every mood, tasted success food.
04:02Sail and sail and sail, or the ship will fail, said the commissary to rescue the ship from misery.
04:11That was amazing, sir. It's basically all about the struggle that you
04:17face when you are away from home or you are trying to make your own life, trying to establish yourself.
04:22That was truly amazing. At times when we are not in a good mood, we have to like motivate
04:31ourselves, inspire ourselves. So these lines were something that I had liked it. Amazing, amazing.
04:39So you have also written several textbooks. So how is the experience of writing a poem different
04:45from writing an academic book? Because these are two completely different things, I feel.
04:50Yeah, writing a textbook, you have got the matter around. It is not something that you created.
05:02You have seen it, you have got a lot of textbook, you have to refer and then write it. But writing a poem
05:08is entirely different. You are in a very different mood. The state of mind is also very different.
05:16When you are writing, you are focusing on one aspect and it is something that you are creating.
05:26The other one is already late and you have to be like a mathematician. You have to judge which
05:32thing will help the students. What will be, what is that the reader wants? What would help them to get better
05:39marks? What are the aspects which teacher looks for in a textbook? So that is the thought process when
05:46you are writing textbook. But here you are more into it. You write it because you enjoy it.
05:52Yeah.
05:53And even it doesn't matter whether the world enjoys or not. But you will write it, you enjoy it. That's one thing.
06:03The textbook needs the mind and the poems come from the heart basically.
06:09Yeah, you can say poems. Of course, not exactly from because there is somewhere
06:18the background of English that had also triggered it. Not a spontaneous one. Somewhere the background was
06:27there. Or that reading was there. So that might have triggered. But there may be some germ
06:34of a poetic germ that may be there.
06:38Because everybody cannot pen their thoughts in two words.
06:43It requires something as well.
06:47Yeah.
06:49So, sir, talking about your teaching journey, how do you encourage your students to think creatively?
06:53Because you have both in you, the creative part as well. And how do you encourage them to express
06:59themselves beyond the classroom so they can also, you know, one day become a poet or
07:05venturing to a creative world?
07:07As students, when we do something good, they get inspired. It is not that we have to try hard to inspire.
07:17Our journey, if we make up, we build up something and we have got something to share to them. And for them,
07:28that is an inspiring source. And of course, this journey and this experience which comes
07:34and this also reflects that you were someone who had been into polishing yourself. And when you have,
07:45when you are polishing yourself, that aspect more, of course, maybe that is one thing that students get
07:52motivated. Of course, you do your work as what you have to do. And then all the things that you have
08:01achieved, if that is commendable, that inspires the students to do something good, great in your life.
08:08So, sir, have your students read any of your poetry?
08:10I have made them listen to the poem because their reflections always help because the poem,
08:19the book itself, it is compiled in such a way that it has got a textbook-like appeal.
08:28Like the book which is there, you have got poem, then line by line meaning, then the poetic devices used,
08:35then the reflections, the themes that are there, it is not just poem. Because when I see the poems,
08:45most of the poems written, I find that I am not able to understand. And many, many a times when I talk to
08:52some people, they say, those poems are good, which you don't understand. That is beyond. If you can't
09:01comprehend something, that is better. And that is something which is difficult for me to digest.
09:06That have a hidden meaning somehow you need to find out.
09:09Ah, yeah. That maybe, maybe a poet writes from a, from one perspective and where it is rightly said in
09:18a, in Hindi, a Hindi poem, jaha na paunche revi, vaha paunche kavi.
09:30That is true. That is, ah, yeah. That is where the sunlight doesn't reach there, the poets can reach the
09:38thoughts. So, at times, we may not be able to understand the meaning also. That's one aspect. But
09:43they enjoy it, they write. And for me, ah, the things have to, ah, things have to be simple. If we
09:51can't understand, it has to be made, there, there has to be some platform where which, from which the
09:57students can read and then understand or comprehend it. There are different levels of meaning. What I have
10:04written, that may not be the exact version. When you read, there may be a different perspective. Each
10:11person reads a poem or any creative work from their own perspective. And they come up with different
10:18meaning. And that is a beauty. So you just need to give something and then there is a, there, there
10:25people start creating out of it. That is true, sir. Sir, so who has been your biggest inspiration in
10:32your teaching and writing journey? Any poet or someone from your personal life who has been the inspiration
10:38behind me? Or yourself? Of course, my father, my father was there. My father was in military and he, he used
10:51to say, I'm a self-made man. So he, that was there. So I also wanted to do something which makes him talk
11:01about. Though he doesn't, like, he didn't use to speak too much high about me. But I have heard it, that
11:10when he talks to his friends and all, he talks, I'm a writer, like he's doing, he has written so much.
11:18Whether the number of people who are read, that is immaterial. But he projects me as a person who is very
11:26learned. So that's one, one aspect. The father has been an inspiration. Apart from that, my students
11:36have been an inspiration. To give them the best, to do, you have to polish yourself. That had been the
11:42thought. And that, that has inspired. Great, sir. The thoughts that you need to polish, that had inspired.
11:52Okay, sir. So, sir, lastly, who is your favorite poet? And what is the, which is your favorite poem,
11:58if you would like to, uh, uh, say a few lines or just the name of the poem and the poet? Any favorites?
12:09Yeah. The favorite poem, there is one poem,
12:13by, uh, the lines goes like this. Somebody said, it couldn't be done. But he with a chuckle
12:23replied, eight, and it goes like that. At, uh, it is by guest, Edgar Allen, Edgar guest. And that's
12:32the poem that is there in, uh, in the eighth standard. Earlier, it was there. And that's the poem
12:39that says that if the world may say that it cannot be done, but this, it can be done, but you don't
12:47need to, uh, accept by the words, you need to work on it. And if it doesn't work, okay, you accept it.
12:56But, but just by the words of others, don't accept it. Give it a try, give it, and then,
13:03and it may, it will work. It's a very simple and that kinds of things. I like it best.
13:08And that is very true for everybody because, uh, what keeping, keeping yourself motivated and,
13:15uh, not stopping yourself from trying things helps a lot. If you stop yourself from trying new things,
13:21you will never be able to know if you can do it or not. Basically. Yeah. So you need to give an
13:29attempt, give an attempt and things will unfold better. True, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you so
13:36much for joining us. It was lovely talking to you. Thank you, madam. You have been, uh, you have
13:42intrigued me nice way with smiling face and it was, uh, natural. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you.
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