The celebration or the celebrities ..where is the problem ?

          Movies and Politics have always been something distant  for me .. not that I don't watch movies , I occasionally do , but I wouldn't bat an eyelid if by some miracle there was not going to be single movie made for the next thousands of years .....

    Yet ,this blog is revolving around it, as suddenly I noticed issues brewing around  Amir Khan's statement about him not feeling safe in our Country or Salman Khan's so called ''expected release'  , and followed by  public out leash, ( which is what drew my attention than the original issue itself ) . I went to our dear google out of curiosity . Not only do I personally feel that many movies are socially irresponsible by glorifying violence,alcohol, teasing etc, but many times this social irresponsibility flows very much from reel to real. Though there is always the argument that , violence or alcoholism would happen even without movies, for sure movies compliment the scenario to a large extent .

 There is or there could be a political angle to all these issues or the issue could be woven from a suttle reality , which I am neither interested in digging into nor do I want to debate on why Amir Khan made such a statement or why Salman was released.. my thoughts are with the  same public which is justifiably outpouring its irritation today and is the  one who also celebrates them.....

 ......and my biggest question is ' If these actors were not celebrated upon to such an extent and the public did not make their movies hits allowing them to amass exorbitant sums of money , would they be in a position of power ? Would their statements matter in a political scenario or will they be in position to  buy their freedom ?   Even from an angle that an actor's  statement could have been misunderstood ( his intention being completely something else ) , would it still be used for 'dirty politics' if he were not celebrated like he is today ?

.....There were times when people used to drop everything to watch movie being shot at . Then with the advent of  cable TV, the world of movies just moved from the silver screen to the small screen , only escalating the craze....it still incomprehensible to me on why on Independence day , they have to interview on TV, an actors and actresses.... does really India have nothing else to boast of, after Independence except movies.......? Irrespective of the negative impact , movie starts are put on pedestals.

   Movies are just for entrainment , nothing more nothing else. It is  an industry which does host a lot of talent and nothing wrong with person's decision to to take any career in movies ....what I find uncomfortable is the to the level the common man celebrates the celebrities. Let me be very clear when I say that  its each individual's wish  in appreciating a person in the entertainment field, but are we stretching the appreciation tooo far ,,,,,,and that is the wave which is used to make millions today ..in advertising , in politics , in court cases ..name it.

    So am closing with an open question ?  Does the problem lie with the celebrities or the celebration  ??

Hoping to feed your thoughts..... .......................

Luxury..in the midst of Chennai floods

     Well.. as you read this , you know I have been connected back to the internet ( and that has been since yesterday evening )., and I guess it would not have penetrated my mind even if the broadband network had not been restored. During and after the Chennai floods, the bursts of little signals we got in the terrace , to convey our safety to my dear ones through single sms after so many attempts  , was for me the best network connectivity.....

    Many a time over the past few years I keep to reading up on why the climate cycles changes , but once the North east monsoons  were to set , I guess I got addicted to seeing weather forecasts , not the rain , thunderstorm sunny pictures you get as a summary but the details reports on how the rains are actually going to move. The sound of rain would make me grab the mobile , even at the middle of the night to check the weather reports , Insat pictures and websites which track cyclones across the globe.

 The next reflex action on seeing heavy rains , was me storing water at home. We live in a gated township , where during heavy rains,the water supply and power is stopped... as result once during the initial heavy rains ( I have lost track of how many times there have been heavy rains in the past weeks : -(  ) , we had not much water except a bucket or so .. and hence the reflex action.

     After the loooong holidays , Monday, Dec 30th both my kids went to school and it started as a sunny day . Being to hooked to weather reports which were forecasting rains  , I did land up buying all the food required for the house.....but bang monday evening,  the sky unleashed itself. Five roads crashed to form mammoth holes in Chennai.
Tuesday , was a day of no mercy from the Rain God ( who insisted on showing his power in North Tamil Nadu ) ..

     By tuesday evening , enough warnings kept pouring in, from individual weather bloggers ofcourse, not from the IMD which stuck to its forecast of isolated heavy to very heavy rain fall in coastal Tamil Nadu and Pudcherry ( before a flood !!! ) ........and there was an instinctive fear . Whatsapp was already buzzing with messages on which roads where blocked, where water levels were rising ..and next came calls from relatives and friends that water had started creeping inside their houses. I will never forget that night, where the priority was knowing their safety and roads leading to our township were already getting cutoff with water.

     In spite of all this , that night took us by surprise .... our township itself was flooded as a near by lake overflowed.....all the individual villas were in water. We were in the first floor and water had crept till the fourth step ( with cars already in the water ) . We packed a few bags and were ready to move the fourth floor, in case water levels kept rising. .....and then the rains stopped ( Rain God must have got tired ! ) .

   Neighbours started chipping in to help out and those from flooded homes were already evacuated to the in-campus school. Gas supply was also cut......no power , no water , no gas but believe me none of that mattered. We were in a dry place , had food , water and kids did not panic...... only issue was no network to convey our safety to my parents and sisters. We even had our own entrainment channel in the evenings because around 5 pm when I used to light the candles, my three year old daughter will start her singing ..and she used to go on non-stop. It was her way of handling the dim candle light nights

  During the four days before the water receded and all the basic supplies were back , believe me, not one moment made me feel bad for the situation we were in. My heart went to those who had lost everything and they way human hearts were rising above Chennai waters....

Once connectivity was back , and when I mentioned  those four days were luxury for me , one person remarked as to how I can call this luxury....if this is not luxury , what else is    ?????

Chennai will emerge from this also !

 .



 
 

Series on Educational Therapy - Is it easy to say thank you ?

     Thank you has crossed my lips many times, as a formality,  to teach my children, heartfelt to many, as part of work,.. it has been conveyed many times in actions and but how do I convey my  complete sense of thankfulness to people I have never met and will never meet, as they are no more.

 After a 17+ years in the telecom software industry, little did I know what I was signing up for, when I joined the educational therapy course, except that I wanted something part time and with the time factor at my will. The time factor at my discretion was honestly my driving priority because I knew how much it was eaten up during my long  IT career.

But then,  after I started my course on educational therapy  .....wasn't  I bowled over...? It was actually stepping into a new world. A new world where every one whom I met ( let me stress this ..literally every one ) was driven by one emotion - to make learning a pleasurable  experience for children, especially those who find it difficult to understand language and numbers with our current teaching methods.

For me , everything was different, compared to what I had been doing till now - it was seeing a new world with the same eyes- starting with the very thought process, the approach, the patience, the commitment to move step by step ahead, even its baby steps which keep fumbling, the goals to works towards to,teaching methods-   every thing has made me feel very excited, happy and most of all equipped to some extent.

The road towards understanding / research on learning disabilities is definitely come over decades but for me it was new, especially techniques which have been researched by doctors and have proven to show good results.


What was even more captivating was ....

-  How few people, decades back  ( I am not getting into  names) , were driven by one goal - that there has to be a way, wherein  children who see letters and numbers differently can be helped.

- How they never gave up and made people, especially parents and school understand that , it  requires alternate teaching methods and that  the shortcomings of adults with regard to teaching/ comprehending the language and numbers cannot be imposed on children.

- How they went about establishing the techniques in a systematic way, which finally evolved into a national level institute.

..and finally how they made me and so many others across the globe understand that , a child falling short of academic achievements in the current education system, is not a burden it has to carry for life..  and that its  not a life sentence.

     How many reading this article ( I mean the so called adults )  can raise their hands to say that they are skilled in all the world's skills - not one. Some are talented in certain fields , while some are in others. Its exactly the same for kids - some might be skilled in reading / writing and numbers intuitively while others are not.

And for those who are not, isn't it common sense to teach them in the right way, instead of blaming them for their academic failure and making their lives miserable.

If at any point in their lives , if the pioneers in this field had given up , I would not be writing this today .....and I am still at loss to say thank you.

The only way I know , is to put to use the knowledge I have gained, to enhance the educational experience of children.

As I take further steps into this world, I will keep sharing what I learn , as a series of articles....

Till then ...wish me luck to learn well.

If Yoga is Hindu , then is internet and Electric bulb American , .. and how about Zero .. Indian ??

   Traversing through this century , where the exposure quotient of the young generation is growing exponentially, the lines between ethical and unethical thinking are becoming blurred . For young teen ' being cool' in the gang will stand out as a life definition.

In this evolving mindset of children, for me as a parent  ( and I vouch its for every parent ) ,how strong,the mind and the physical health of the children are is a critical factor. Keeping them under our wings is not the solution, they should learn to be strong and then fly from within - self defense of the body and self defense of the mind is what will help them sail through life . In this era of shifting waters , a calm mind will definitely surf with ease and not get damaged in the process 

   One of the first decisions I took as a parent was that , Yoga meditation and any self defense mechanism like karate, is too be mandatory for my kids.I have been doing yoga for the past few years and knowing personally how much it helps , I try to motivate as many people as possible.
  It was indeed good news when June 21'st was declared as the international yoga day because at least from an awareness point of view , it would trigger a few . Then the proposal that Surya Namaskar ( a  form of Yoga postures ) was to be made mandatory in school,  was indeed a step in the right direction . This is something which done on a daily basis , helps the body to such an extent ......and I am talking about the human body, the human body alone - the person can be a Male , Female, Transgender and is   irrespective of which religious practice they follow ....yesterday I saw an article in the news paper  where some religious committees are against the Compulsory yoga in School because its ' Hindu ' !

 I grew up  a house hold where my mother is very religious and in our Pooja room we had so many pictures of the all the Hindu Gods and in the midst was also the Moon and Star ( for Mohammad ) and Revered Mother Mary with Baby Jesus. 

Drawing boundaries in the name of religion or caste has always been incomprehensible to me . Every religion is about appreciating the creation and the creator. Its about tuning into it for the enhancement of the human body and mind. Etching enemy lines between religions only serves to reduces the Omnipresence of the Creator. Religion is not about a set of rules that shows one human being to be a superior to another . So when I read that Yoga cannot be taught in schools because its ' Hindu' , it really makes me wonder about everything we use in our daily life ?

Is the religion of the inventor or the culture of the place where every gadget or invention we use being analysed ? If Yoga is Hindu , then is the Internet American , The train Scottish , paper Chinese ? what about the number zero - Is it also Hindu ? Can we restrict their use 
As long as something is complementing your life , its origin does not matter. 

By making Yoga in schools compulsory , it would benefit thousands of children. Many of them, who have never had access to Yoga classes or are from families whose parents are not aware of its importance will get a chance to blossom.,, and for all we know , they might motivate their parents - Yoga is an investment for life.

Will you enroll your child in a school which does not support sports or do we analyse where each sport originated from . 

Yoga is not about Hinduism . If India can come together for cricket why not for Yoga ?

Let us not curb it in the name of Religion - All religions and their Prophets have been only showing pathways to  elevate the human - lets not make into a sword which hurts others.

" Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

- Rabindranath Tagore

Even Duryodhana - the epitome of evil in Mahabharatham was blessed !

    When I said Krishna and my 3 year old daughter's immediate response was  Mahabharathamila varae Krishnava ?( Krishna who comes in Mahabharatham ? ) I felt that for so many generations, yet to come , the magic of Mahabharatham will never ebb its flow.

If you want to listen to heavenly flute as you read please play the below video( it an audio file only ) 

In an era where a leaked story can plunge a multi million dollar movie down into the dumps , the Great Epic Mahabharatham which has been told , retold, written about, debated, analysed, revered,telecasted and hosted in dramas umpteen times across millenia never ever fails to enthrall us and keep us spell bound. I know so many kids of the next generation who take it as a pride, that they know the Mahabharatham and its intricate details. Their knowledge on each character sometimes has been very impressive ( and clearly showed my ignorance :-) ) 

       For many us , it would be difficult to recall when we had a first glimpse into the great Epics, Ramayana and Mahabharatham, because it has been intertwined so much  into us- From mothers and Grandmothers giving their versions , to divulging into it in our every favourite Amir Chithra katha comics,to movies and the famous Gita Saram image all over the place. When it was telecast on the Doordharshan in the 80s,can any of us forget how the whole family used to be glued to the TV  ( and in Coonoor , for all the black and white grained version which we used to get , I remember the streets being silent during its telecast !)  and now decades later , bang on 9.00 clock, its history repeating again  and everybody gets glued to latest telecase of Mahabharatham again !!

        Its a story which  has got me pondering so many times and from any angle it was play of evil forces which had to be shot down , ofcourse by our Dear Krishna - the Virtue  and wrong of every action , every word , every character has been meditated and controverted across so many generations - but for me the Mahabharatham was just THE perfect backdrop for the Bhagvad Gita - to be rendered by the Lord Himself ....nothing more , nothing less .

The greatest family saga ever has it all - The larger than life characters, extreme valour and dexterity,deeply interwoven deceit and virtue, glorified Guru Dharma.......every event in the great Ithikasam has been scrutinsed and interpreted by thousands , laced by ifs and buts and what we should learn from it - 

but for the entire clan served as manure of the Gita to bloom in full glory !

For Krishna in his eloquent style, to gift to mankind ,the precious Gem of Gita , whose light can shine in abundance in all the many many millenia to come , for every personality in the Mahabharatham can be found across all walks of life  - and in that midst, the Gita tells how to live , really live  not just survive!!

The benefaction has been given and how much of it we imbibe it into ourselves is ofcourse a personal choice I guess .

  And what Characters !! Starting from Shantanu , Bhishma, Sathyvati ,Dirthrastra, Pandu , Gandhari , Kundi , Pandavas , Karna,Guravas, Sakuni...... ( my personal favourite is Karna :-) ) and I seriously envy  Duryondana, I really do ...Leave alone the Pandavas , Durpathi, Kunthi , Karna for all whom Krishna stood solid - the intention to harm was not driving them , but what about Duryodhana , who can be crowned the evil king ?

      Duryodhana has been given the evil stamp since its narration, his deeds were headstrong and unscrupulous.he had no qualms or second thoughts when any deed along the lines of adharma( evil) had to be initiated for his personal gain.  In spite of being his friendship with Karna standing as an example even today  and he was a respecter of Ksthyria skill, he is and will always be remembered for the wrong reasons  -....

.......... but even he , even the so called 'bad Duroyandhana' walked the same time as Krishna, he was addressed by Krishna as brother, he was granted a vision  of  Lord Vishnu when he tried to arrest Krishna, he would have heard the Lord's golden words umpteen times, when he tried to capture Krishna in court, he was dazzled as every one around him was Krishna..( ultimate Krishna Consciousness !! )  he was also cast by Krishna to play a role which  culminated towards the revered Bhagvad Gita-  who can hope for this in this kali yuga ?? None......

Oh Duryodhana - were'nt you blessed !!!!

p.s - The opinions are my own and in case there is some fact, which you feel is wrong interpretation of the Mahabharatham , kindly excuse and enlighten me on the same. Its an ocean where the learning never ends !

We hail motherhood ..but have we forgotten ' HER' ?

         Maatha , Pitha, Guru, Deivam - Mother hood has always been revered in India and around the world. The wishes, messages zip zapping across the world today on whatsapp and facebook is just the tip of the iceburg.. a small expression in the ocean of deep love... which will always be divine and unconditional.

One this day, while we celebrate mothers , are we slowly forgetting the greatest mother of all - MOTHER EARTH. I recently read a book about a period, many millions of years ago when neanderthals where disappearing and human beings where walking the  Earth. For them , everything was Mother Earth , every life sprouted from her and went back to her. She was really cherished....

Apart from the book being a good one , has anything changed over the many millennia ....Mother Earth has not changed a bit .Life still flows from her with great abundance and she is as patient as ever , but we have changed... 
Oh my ...how we have changed !!! and how we are slowly and slowly scarring her.

There is a time scale comparison I saw that if  we equate the entire time scale of the Earth to 24 hours, we homo sapiens have been around only for the last two seconds....and can we pat ourselves for a great show  ? We have taken giant strides and at what a cost !! 

In one of my previous blogs I had mentioned that it is the duty of every parent to take care of their health and parents falling ill can be damaging to children.. and I don't have answer for Mother Earth :-(

From the Gentle walk humans being started with, we have marched, stomped and finally are stampeding  Mother Earth....I do not think we can tell with pride that we are taking good care of Mother Earth - but it is never too late or have we found the address on another planet where our great grandchildren can move too ?

We can always start with Baby steps again and by writing this blog on this glorious mother's day , I take an oath that I will do something every year to start reversing the damage. I hope every reader of this blog joins me....Let start taking care .....gently 

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

oh my my..my ' ME' TIME...

Hi !! The thought to pen my thoughts has come again after a long time...thoughts triggered after
          .... a line I read
          ,.... news from across continents
          .....something sweet told by my kids
          .....and of course daily tidbits from my children's school..( opps..education is a huge topic let me reserve that for later ) ..

So many ideas and views ,slowly weaving itself into a blog .. but always inside my head, never on paper... who has got the time...?

When I am mom, who has  got the time...?
When I have a career to attend to  , who has got the time ...?
When I have project deadlines to meet, presentations to prepare, teams to monitor , who has got the time ....?

When I need to take care of the cooking , who has got the time....?

When I need to take care of elders , who has got the time....?
When I have to clean the house ,arrange books shelves and clothes umpteen times, whose got the time....?

Of course ' I ' wont have time....because the ' I ' am a mother, or a father , or employee , or boss or any human being ,who spends every waking hour tolling for the family or for work.....The ' I ' will never have time....

This is not to debate whether the time constraints of a daily routine are vested more with the women or men....this blog is dedicated to every individual who can relate to this... who deny themselves a time of their own and worse,feel guilty when they do so or who pathetically, are mentally lazy to do so,.

My personal view is that ,self-health care is one of the essential duties of parents towards their children. Parents falling ill , can be very damaging towards the kids.. and what is so wrong in taking care of one's health , especially in today's sedentary lifestyle... but something is definitely wrong , because am seeing so many parents , spending no time on basic health care like eating nutritious food or working out enough......have even heard of cases , where women are not allowed to work out in a gym because they happen to be a woman.... ( !! )

and this does not come from carelessness but from a thought that there is no time....

It comes from not wanting to break away from the daily routine, we drag ourselves through...
It comes from wanting to finish the next job at home or office rather than walk for half an hour....
It comes from feeling guilty about spending 30 minutes for ourselves, when we rather fold the clothes, or get the ready for the next meal .
It comes from mental fatigue of not wanting to do anything.




Time will never be there unless you  create it .....and you believe you deserve it.

      From not having time for basic health care, it spirals to,not having time for something we enjoy doing or are passionate about. Stuck to our accustomed routine, sometimes its a mammoth effort to break away from it and take a dip into waters that have not been ventured into before. May be getting 30 minutes a day for your self , might seem colossal but will getting 30 minutes a week seem difficult ? It just takes second of rational thinking and resolution to get some ' ME ' time.

Recently I came across this quote " Those who succeed focus on what they do and those who don't spend time giving excuses'. This created a huge impact on me.
      Along with health care, taking on some thing which would uplift your spirits, will have a positive cascading effect across your rest of your day and relationships. Every one goes through some sort , frustration which in most cases, is  inbuilt, only if we have the time to reflect on it.  A happier you would deal better with your world  rather than a burdened you

Your ' ME ' time   would be moments of self reflection or a time to tide over  detrimental feelings like anger , low esteem, lost confidence etc.



When there is time to eat, sleep, watch  TV, time to whatsapp and connect across facebook to post every meal cooked and every movie watched , why not some ' ME' time ??
Also, only if you take your time seriously will the world take it seriously.

  These days, there is a never a dearth of real life stories, of people who rose from nothing,to live larger than life and I am sure there is no debate, that it was their own attitude that uplifted them.

Indulging  yourself in any activity which you are passionate about ,would be a rejuvenation for your spirits. For those in the fast rat race of life , this time would serve to be  precious moments, where we can pause to embrace and appreciate life for what it is rather than see it as a burden to be dragged around.

You need not build empires immediately, but carve out your "ME ' time to start with ..

After all I am writing , Aren't I ?? :-))







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