Someone might ask what's special about today! Isn't it just a date in the calendar and another ploy by the capitalistic world to sell products or services? I find this as an opportunity to reach out to all my friends. The ones always in my thoughts, the ones I meet regularly, the ones I would like to meet in the future and the ones I know I will never meet in this world.Today as the line between virtual and real is getting increasingly blurred, I also reach out to my friends in the cyber world ... my blogger friends, my social media friends and corporate friends...
Life is a Great big canvas and you should throw all the paint on it you can. (Danny kaye)
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Sunday, June 24, 2018
If you had a choice, what would you dream about tonight?
The other night I woke up in my dreams to find out that I
was not actually asleep but wide awake. Although quite baffling, it is not very uncommon
and probably many among us have encountered similar moments at some point in
our sleep. Dreams are yet another aspect of our life, over which we
have little control. We can accomplish many feats in our dreams which would otherwise appear unthinkable. “Dreams come true” is therefore synonymous to accomplishing something truly marvelous.
All ancient culture tried to make
sense of their dreams and their interpretation have been carried forward by
their descendants. Depending upon happy or sad events that followed a particular dream, cultures created their own almanac of superstitions. We too have grown up drawing various inferences out of
elements such as water, food, snakes, elephants etc. and associated action that appeared in our dreams.
Our ancestors connected dreams to our previous birth, forewarning or as a communication medium with the dead. When someone had a bad dream they interpreted it was the
handiwork of demons.
A nice happy accomplishing dream makes the day and a fabulous
one could keep us dreamy for few days at a time. Who would not like to have a
good dream? This craving for soothing dreams created the “dreamcatchers”.
Native American tribes traditionally used “dreamcatchers” as
talismans to protect sleeping people, usually children, from bad dreams. The night air, they thought were filled with both good as
well as bad dreams. Hanging a “dream catcher” above the bed, they believed would ensure only good dreams
came along.
These are handmade crafts made with a round hoop woven with a loose
web of yarn and decorated with beads and feathers hanging below the hoop.
Sunday, June 17, 2018
A tribute on Father's Day
I remember the look my then infant daughter gave me when she was vaccinated for the first time. As if her eyes were questioning me, how could you ever let them hurt me!
When I look back at those wonder years, I understand my dad a bit more each time. But its too late as he left us for the heavenly abode as soon as I graduated and started with my job denying me the opportunity to give back anything. I wish he was still there and I could treat him, take care of him and hug him!
Happy Father's Day wishes to one and all.
Quick Facts: Father's day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June every year while Mother's day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of May.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Baobab - A fascinating Species
The name was not very common to my ears neither was its look to my eyes. Ever since I saw them at the Aspire Park in Doha, I might has asked
my Landscape Architect friend umpteen number of times to remind me of the name
of this tree. He used to give me the name with the questions, “why, what
happened?” I always wanted to know more about them.
I am told that we have a few of the species in some
botanical gardens in India but incidentally never got to see one. “There
are nine
species of baobab in the world, and Madagascar, one of the world’s
biodiversity hotspots, is home to six. The African mainland and the Arabian
peninsula have two, and Australia has one. Africa’s most notable species is
the Adansonia digitata, named after the French botanist Michel
Adanson, who undertook an 18th-century exploration of Senegal. He stayed there
for five years and contributed to the publication of 1757’s Natural History of
Senegal.” theguardian.com)
The shape of the trees are fascinating but the most fascinating
fact is that there are individual Baobab trees alive on the planet earth for the
last 3000 years. Yes you have counted the zeros alright, its three thousands!
Isn’t it amazing for somebody to stand the sand of time and witness
the continued changes happening over the millenniums? But they are not able to
withstand our atrocities any longer.
A recent article made the shocking
disclosure that as many as 9 of these individuals aged between 1100 and 2500
years are dying off. Unfortunately our way of polluting environment and encroaching
forest lands is killing them. Victims of Climate Change! The Guardian reported “The
oldest tree by far, of which all the stems collapsed in 2010/11, was the Panke
tree in Zimbabwe, estimated to have existed for 2,500 years. The biggest,
dubbed Holboom, was from Namibia. It stood 30.2 metres (99 feet) tall and had a
girth of 35.1 m.” (theguardian.com)
Do you not feel that it's about time that we change our way of life and give others a chance?
Live and Let Live!
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
World Environment Day: Wish you a sustainable lifestyle
“Meeting our present needs in a way such that the coming
generation would be able to meet their own.”
Our generation is selfishly rushing to achieve their self-defined
illusive “Progress”. In the process we are mercilessly converting our farmlands,
wetlands, forests and water bodies destroying the natural habitat of our
co-dwellers in this earth.
On the 5th of June 2018, this World Environment Day,
I request all to take a moment out to decide where we want to go from here. We
need to be wary of finding our environmental report card in the hands of our
grandchildren and decide between growth and development.
Growth is all about getting bigger and bigger whereas development is
about getting better.
I have no qualms in accepting the fact that it will take a
messiah to change the world totally and revert the damages already done. But no
one can stop us from participating in whatever small way to be part of the
change that we want to see in our environment.
I can assure you that any step, however small that might be
would not be insignificant. There are a few things that we all can undertake,
no matter where we are or our circumstances.
Firstly we need to plant trees…wherever and whenever
possible. Any opportunity should not be missed and it could be in our
courtyards, porches, patios, terraces, balconies or even window sills. Create
your own flowering nook or a kitchen garden and in doing so please remember to
use terracotta pots instead of the plastic one.
Secondly say goodbye to plastics. They are doing immense harm
and their outreach is now thousands of feet under the sea. The idea is to start
with the disposable, single use products and slowly move to the others.
Finally let “Recycle, Reuse & Reduce” be the mantra of
life.
In the end I will leave with a quote from Senegalese Baba
Dioum (1968). "In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only
what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.”
The news clipping below may help to understand the
gravity of the situation and motivate you. First one is a good news about Tamil Nadu banning plastics and the ones that follows are scary to say the least.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
WhatsApp and What a Wonderful World……
The school that my daughter attends for music decided to
participate in the annual day celebrations of a school for children with special
needs. When it was their turn, they got to the stage and stood shoulder to
shoulder with the choir group of the celebrating school. Together they
presented the popular song, “What a wonderful world” by Louis Armstrong. I felt
it was quite an intense and emotional experience for all the participants as well
as their parents. As they sang together
“I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world……”
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world……”
it was a defining experience for those kids who had little idea
about the challenges associated with the term “special needs”.
But this is not the subject of this post. In preparation of the
program, the teacher in charge had formed a group in the “WhatsApp”. She coordinated
with the parent of this small group of voluntary participants letting us know
about the time to drop-offs, pick-ups for rehearsals, dress codes and other critical
details about the venue, meeting points etc. related to the final day. The kids
these days are fully occupied and finding a common free time to rehearse by
itself is no mean task.
“WhatsApp” was a great tool for those 5 weeks and it can be
extremely efficient as long as it is strictly used for purpose. No customary “good
mornings”, no forwarded messages, no spam… pure business. After the program,
the group became defunct.
I wish we could use technology with such prudence….always!
Not letting it infringe our personal space to dump others views, opinions or
frustrations and create havoc!
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Culturally diverse? Yes Please!
Let's start this topic with a quote from Jane Austen. “There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends.” she said and argued “ I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” That's probably how most of us as Indians feel about our culture except a few who thinks differently.
I have been living outside the country for more than two decades and have met many people who has left the country temporarily or permanently who echoes the same sentiment. One thing that unites us all is the our culture no matter how diverse we are in our thoughts, beliefs, language or appearance.
Yes we are still culturally diverse although many of our festivals and values are now intertwined across the subcultures. But retaining this trait for a country of India's complexity and volume withstanding resistance from people who quite often spew venom in the social media is quite an commendable achievement.
I once listened to an interview and one statement made about our country said it all. India being so large and diverse, something need to be kept in consideration while drawing an inference on any particular cause or issue. What one inferred could be correct but the irony is that the opposite of that is also equally true.
As an example one might infer that the Indian society at large is becoming intolerant towards each other's religious beliefs, but the opposite of this is probably the greater truth. We see the same when it comes to #girl child, #respect for women, #social division, #dowry, #respect for National language, #celebrating other festivals #freedom of speech, and the list goes on.
Without going into the details of people and culture as a management subject, it won’t incorrect to state that only cultural identity that Indian diaspora has is that related to back home. One may think otherwise but the world out there begs to differ and tag us all with the Indian culture.
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