Maharashtra Board Class 12 English Chapter 1.8 Voyaging Towards Excellence Textbook PDF Download

Voyaging Towards Excellence

Ice Breakers

There are different ways to travel from one place to another for different purposes. Discuss with your partner and match the words given in table A with their meanings in table B.

Discuss the following with your partner and complete the web.

Qualities required for excellence: Vision, Hard Work

Teacher's Note

Traveling teaches us many things. For example, when you visit different Indian cities, you learn about new cultures and foods.

Exam Trick

Remember: A cruise is a long journey on water. A trip is a short journey. So cruise is longer than trip.

Points to Remember

Cruise means a long ship journey.
Expedition is a journey for a special purpose.
Trip is short but trip has a purpose.
Picnic is fun and you eat outdoor meals.
Voyage is a long water journey with many stops.

Voyaging Towards Excellence

Achyut Godbole (born 1950) is well known for his writings in Marathi and English. He is a prolific writer in various genres and has produced numerous original works as well as adaptations of works from other languages into Marathi. His writing style is informative and yet very informal. He became a Chemical Engineer from IIT Mumbai in 1972 and headed top management positions in companies of great repute.

This autobiographical sketch penned by Achyut Godbole depicts his journey from a middle class school boy to a famous writer. He was a successful General Manager of Patni Computer Systems. He headed many other reputed companies and later became a famous writer. The present write-up discusses his quest for excellence, how he developed a thirst for knowledge. He discusses at length the ingredients / essentials of success and the ways to achieve it.

I had a very simple upbringing. We were a lower middle class family. Our 300 square feet house did not even have basic amenities such as a fan, a refrigerator, a geyser, a dining table or a gas stove; leave alone an air conditioner or a car. It was only when I entered the college that I got a watch and we got a dining table and a gas stove at home. Nevertheless, culturally, I had a rich childhood. Poets like Vinda Karandikar, Mangesh Padgaonkar and Vasant Bapat used to visit our home and for hours I could listen to the discussions about poetry and literature-Marathi and English. They used to talk about Keshavsut, Mardhekar, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy. I did not fully understand their discussions in depth, but I was immensely impressed. We also were lucky to have Pt. Kumar Gandharv, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and Pt. Jasraj visit our place and talk about Indian music till late night or sometimes dawn. This is how and why I developed my interest in literature and music during my school days. I did not and even today don't understand the 'grammar' of music, but I began to love it tremendously since then. Most of the times, the topics of discussion at our home were about music, literature, paintings, sculptures etc. I could listen to the discussions about Van Gogh, Michaelangelo and many others.

It was because of such a milieu around me that I had a firm belief which I still hold that all arts are equally, if not more, important in our lives than Science or Technology. I had learnt from my childhood that money does not mean everything in life. It is necessary, but if at all there is something which enriches our lives and puts meaning to our existence, it is the arts, music and literature.

This is not to say that I did not like Science or Mathematics. In fact, I loved these subjects. However, I did not study them only for scoring maximum marks in the examinations. I used to study these subjects or any subject for that matter for its inherent beauty. I found Newton's law of motion beautiful and Pythagorean Theorem elegant. I loved solving problems of Physics and Mathematics of the 9th standard when I was in the 7th, not to show off, but just because I used to get involved in solving them. I used to love problem-solving and used to enjoy finding out the most elegant method of solving them. Obviously, these problems were not a part of the curriculum, but I enjoyed the whole process. This attitude of looking beyond marks or examinations and to seek joy in solving any challenging problem helped me to develop a 'problem-solving' attitude which came handy when I appeared for my IIT entrance (JEE) because this exam is completely based on your problem-solving ability and the ability to think not only logically but quickly and rapidly.

I scored 100% marks in Mathematics in almost all the examinations that I appeared for from my 1st standard until IIT, barring only a few times. I stood 16th in the SSC Board (at that time, this examination was for the whole of Maharashtra, including Nagpur) and I stood 1st in the University in all subjects put together. Those days, you could get an admission into IIT without the entrance test (JEE) if you had secured the 1st rank in the University. Therefore, I did not have to appear for the entrance test to get the admission into IIT, but nobody in Solapur told me about it, for I doubt if anybody in Solapur even knew about this rule. Therefore, I appeared for the entrance examination, and I secured a very good rank in the same.

Teacher's Note

Hard work helps you become good at math. If you study math problems every day like Achyut Godbole did, you can also score well.

Exam Trick

Remember: Inherent means something that is inside. So inherent beauty means the beauty that is inside the subject itself, not the marks you get.

Points to Remember

Rich childhood means having good culture and knowledge, not just money.
Arts and music are very important for life.
You should study subjects for the joy of learning, not just for marks.
Problem-solving skills help you pass hard exams like JEE.
If you love what you study, you will do well in exams.

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