Meena Mangalathil:

       My mother-in-law was a person of only basic education, just passed away recently at the age of 90. When I became her daughter-in-law, I came to know her more intimately. She was a person, who was very down-to-earth, not aware of the vices and corruption of the society, very straight forward and above all loving to me.        She didn’t know to walk properly when she went to church or to visit her kids after their marriage and so somebody accompanied her and always, she was scolded for not looking and walking. For me, I am lazy at walking, so I didn’t have the opportunity to walk with her. She didn’t go for shopping, everything is bought for her. As she was not allowed to go or no money was given to her for safe keeping. She doesn’t have many needs. The one and only worst experience I have had with her was, one fine evening, while I was in the kitchen, she started scolding me, even now I don’t know, why she did it. Because after some weeks, I asked her why she was angry, she f

          The answer might be different for different people. But mostly its for survival, isn’t it? But I would like to add something to it. My parents had their own respective jobs and they planned and executed their money but I have felt that they were different when they go for work and when they arrive another different person totally.           Work is a necessity, it’s a part of our daily existence. It should be the extension of your person. Just like the hand is part of your body or the leg or the eye, your work should be the extension of you with which you are comfortable. I have seen lots of people who are so excited to go to work and who do not earn a lot with it. But their happiness is what makes them successful. They are invincible in their own field of work. And in the end they are the masters of their trade and ultimately they become successful, financially too.           If you feel that the profession you have selected is not to your liking, then you become a waste to

"The Free Man Is He Who Does Not Fear To Go The End Of His Thought"             As we go back to the day on 14 th August midnight of the year 1947, we can feel how the nation stood standstill when Jawaharlal Nehru gave his speech to the people which is famous for its simplicity loaded with patriotism and the excitement to break the news to the people who had a major role to play  – the Freedom Struggle of India. The emotion of India was of expectancy and the words uttered by Nehru was so befitting that even now, we feel the strength and power of the words which he uttered solely for the Indians, which, I feel has to be addressed once more as India is going to celebrate her 65 th Independence Day, due to its great significance in today’s society. I would really like to show you some of the excerpts of Nehru’s “Tryst With Destiny” speech of that day,     “ Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in f

            I hope not. The first time I saw a suicide was when I was in seventh standard. I had gone to my aunt’s house during holidays and one fine morning I heard that a drunkard hanged himself to death on someone else’s tree which jutted towards the road. Well, from that day onwards I just used another way so as to avoid any ghosts of that man. Do you want to know why he did it? Well just get ready for the shock. His wife scolded him for drinking and wasting money. Isn’t it simply ridiculous? His ego was wounded.             Now hear another suicide story of a 10 th class student. She committed suicide by consuming poison immediately after the 10 th results were out. She scored 98 percent mark. She has been scoring it from kindergarten. So everyone expected it. It was not a surprise. But her death was a shock. Do you want to know why she died? Just put on your seat belts. “No one congratulated or patted on her back showing appreciation for scoring such high marks. So she died. Is

            We all know the importance of trees. Now I think even the kids too are aware of how to cherish a tree. I am not going to that aspect of trees. But I would like to say how similar trees are to a human beings.             Do you find any similarity between trees and humans? I know you’d shrug. But I too did the same some 12 years back but I accidentally found out. So I’d like to share it with you all about it. Interested?             Trees are the upside down version of human being. If in yoga I’d say, trees are in Shirshasana (head stand) posture. If you uproot a tree we can see the roots can be compared to the hair of man and from there downwards even to the very body hair of the human body has been developed in the trees as leaves with pores. So now you know how much we are connected to the trees.             I brought this topic because I want to make you aware of our identity, our importance in this living earth. We all know we cannot replace tree for something else. The

            To tell you frankly, I don’t know. But can I say something that would make you think? I first heard about water cycle when I was in   third standard. For me until then I knew only about one cycle and that was bicycle. That was a new information - the cycle of nature. Then later we had to study about the life cycle of butterfly, then the day and night formation due to revolution of earth its own axis, then the year happening due to the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. Its all a cycle. As we look deeper and deeper we find a common rule to all things in nature. So if there is a cycle in everything, then surely after death we would live isn’t it? Our body might get destroyed or annihilated but our being - the soul exists and takes another form. What do you think? Am I right?             You know, an idle mind is the workshop of the devil, but for me when I’m idle I dream of lots of things or thoughts I start from where I’m sitting and ends it there. Its not purposefully,

            Its Destiny! This dialogue usually crops up in all dialogues when something goes wrong or something good happens and especially in India. But one thing I don’t understand is, what is destiny? Is there a Destiny? How does it really control our lives?             For me I’m not a scientist or a very knowledgeable person about anything, but this destiny business has changed my thoughts a lot. In India especially in Hindu families when a baby is born they have a system to write his birth chart, in which all the details of his birth time, day, star, planet and above all his future would be written by an astrologer. The thing is that some are so precise that the person has to just refer his birth manual to plan what to do but some are just flops. But sometimes I feel that if someone can predict, then there might be some grain of truth in destiny? And most of them are doing it too. In this day and age I feel a bit crazy to write it. But something about destiny cropped up while I

            We have been taught the importance of water, the elixir of life, the need to conserve and all these things. That is fine with me too. But I would like to share another important factor of water because I feel that you should know it,   it really can help you a lot in smoothening your life, your daily existence.             I heard this topic in a retreat, the speaker, a professor of science. The story starts thus, A scientist accidentally found out that when crystallized water observed under the microscope had different shapes like stars, etc... but it wasn’t uniform or similar. He took water from different places and made into ice and observed it under the microscope and saw totally sifferent set of designs.             Then one day he crystallized the water he had placed on the table to drink and there he found that the water was in the shape of a dolphin jumping up. He couldn’t comprehend why the water had this shape and this made him think and he looked into all theori

            I have always thought what it would be like to be a very special person in someone else’s life. It would be a good feeling isn’t it? But I don’t want to talk about me as a very special person. I would like to introduce a person who is very special to me. I know we have lots of people who have really mattered in some way or other but I would like to say about a very special person who touched my heart.             The person is a she. She really helped me in being my present self. Her persistence, patience and above all her love for whoever comes in contact with her is what made her special. Her speciality is, she makes everyone feel special, as a VIP (Very Important Person). But that is one facet of her personality.             The other is her strong will to make something happen from nothing. She is a social worker. And she works in a very remote poor village. The work in itself to make the illiterate villagers understand the intricacies of laws for getting government ser