Serendipity and Learning

This is essentially a Tam post. Before the Englishmen had their industrial revolution and passed on some skills to the Indians who in turn made gadgets which robbed the Tams of their prized skills. Yes, Tam land was a glorious land - a land where supermaamas and supermaamis walked the earth. But hell, this is a learning blog, what is all this Tam culture doing here? I am trying to imagine if Howard Gardner had to map the skills of Tam to his theory of multiple intelligences, what would have happened? What were the skills expected of an average maama or maami in the 19th century? or early 20th century? Let us try. Take a typical Tam day that begins at 5 am. (Mind you, 530 IS LATE - wake up you stupid fool and find a kick landing on your backside.) I dont know if waking up in the morning is a skill - but before it becomes a habit, it has to be practiced. In a Tam household it is not very difficult considering that even the insects in the house follow the time to a T. And besides ...