Meena Mangalathil:

Today, my colleague and myself were talking of boarding life. You know, children being brought up in the boarding. Now its not in vogue. But in the 70s and 80s, most of the kids were in the boarding, including me. You know, the life is so pampered, with nothing to do, just learn, play, eat, sleep. No work at all. Our world, our life. Everyone have money. All needs fulfilled, everything. But there is one thing missing. We lose the freedom part. We can do everything, but in a framework, or else, you are out and my brother was so naughty, that he couldn't get a boarding. You might think, why he was naughty. Simple, he wanted the freedom of love. You know when we are with the parents, we do not need to look at rues, regulations and restrictions and that is what we call the freedom of love. But the current generation of parents, know it in full force and that is why, now-a-days, children are more at home and shoot the boarding. Now, there is a drawback which we parents are inculcati

Today, it was the day of Mother Teresa, I feel because I happened to hear about her in two different places and the topic was the same. How she set out to help the poor with just Rs. 5/-. I really was awe struck of a lady, who single handedly threw out her safety and followed her call. You know, nuns have a call. Its the dialogue of all Christians, who are called for the church. Now, when this call comes. No one can control it. It so powerful that we just throw away whatever we have. In the New Testament too, there is a part where the disciples are being called by Jesus and they just drop their nets and boats and follow Jesus. This is what happens when the normal people who have the only source of hearing the call in churches, temples or mosques leave all the work and commitments, just to be with the Lord. In India, the parents, grandparents, they take their children, when they are small, along with them for worship. At that time, the children, gets the opportunity to have a walk

I am continuing with yesterday's blog, "The Joke Of Life". Now, what I have told about nothingness is true. Read the first chapter of Genesis in the Bible. There was nothing, no Universe or whatever we see now was there. It was total darkness. Then one by one, everything was created. How? By the word of God. For Hindus, they say Om (The Word). Which means, that the thoughts I went through was true. Every human being gets an opportunity to understand their root of existence. But we should have the antenna to receive it. I do not remember, my mom and myself having a long chat, but this situation rose because, it gave clarity to my existence. I had given meaning to the word of creation in another light, different angle. It might be right or wrong. But this one just clicked into place, which means, it is true. We might give reasons and explanation, but if we are not able to answer our own doubt, then what is the use of answering or explaining, the same thing to othe

How would you feel, when you have to carry a box full of goodies on your head. Its not easy. But if someone takes off some goodies from the very box which is still on your head, what will happen? Either it would shake and tend to fall, or it would literally fall on the floor breaking the box and the goodies. You might think, why I am saying all these. The box is your expectations, or our expectations. Its connected with people, which means, our expectation begins with people and ends with people. But there is a choice, you are creating that box. If you do not have that box of expectation, then we do not really need to rely on people. Then the chances of breaking that box is nil. Nobody has the power to break it, if we do not have any expectation in the first place. People, including us cannot fulfill the expectation of others. We would not be able to come up with their standards, then how can we expect others to fulfill our expectations. So don't ever make the mistake of cr

I do not know, whether you would believe it, but today one of my long forgotten wish was fulfilled. I wanted to visit an island, which was not very far away, but it was inaccessible to the local people. I could have created a circumstance and entered into this island. But, I had not taken the initiative and I had totally forgotten about it or I had lost interest in it. Today, I was forced to take a trip, if I had a choice, would have surely avoided. So I half heartedly started the trip in a lightweight boat, which was like a matchbox. It was a bit scaring as well as sea sickening experience. Since we didn't expect such a boat, we had to change boats in between and we embarked on a much more better boat in this island, which I thought, WoW. I just wanted to say is, if you wish for something, it will come to fruition, no matter, how much delayed it be. And you would have to fulfill all your wishes which you have wished, to take off from this world, or else, you would wait here.

I know, its not fair to say, but today I had the most incredible speech, which I rendered to my mother. It was the continuation of a dialogue, which I had told, to my friends, which my mother misinterpreted. I had a very pampered life, no work, only study, play, eat, sleep, pray. My hands and feet were always clean. I got to wear neat and wrinkle free dresses, rich toys, etc...etc... Because I was in the boarding. So whenever I have something to say, it would naturally be connected to my boarding life, which my mother feels, that I am criticizing her. So today, the same happened and I do not know, how I was able to get those words, correctly, but I did it, which made her happy. You might be impatient to know, what I said, right? "Meena, I really felt hurt, when you said that about me." "Mom, I would never criticize you for putting me in the boarding. You did me a great service. You made me a spiritual person and thank you so much. That life purified me a lot. Even i

Today, during our family prayer, we have this Bible reading session too. So today, it was my turn to read. I got the part where St. Peter heals a lame man outside the temple. And this man had never gone until then inside that temple. It's really weird, isn't it? Because, we all go to the temple or any place of worship to fulfill our needs and the real gift is distributed outside it. When Jesus was alive, He too did the same. Why is it like that? Have you wondered? Well, I became aware of it today. There is a reason. People, who believe that they have not done any wrong in their eyes and in the eyes of the Lord are the people, who go to pray inside a place of worship and they are sure, they are entitled for a sack full of gifts. But for the people outside the place of worship knows for sure, that they are not eligible to be in the vicinity of the Divine and that is why, they stay out. But there lies the truth, no man is perfect. We all make several mistakes a day wit

One of my friends lost her family due to certain circumstances which could be termed, thrown out of home. They burnt her certificates and no money to survive. She became literally alone in the streets. I do not know, how she survived, but after several years, I met her and she was a changed person. I was expecting a depressed person, but to the contrary. She was at peace with herself, no hatred or no hurt. When I asked, how she became such a person? She replied to my utter surprise. “I came to this world with nothing but my body and I return with nothing, not even my body. My family helped me understand it and I would be thankful to them. Why should I cry for something, which I don’t own. Why should I run in amassing money? Why should I crave for my own home? God provides me, what I need. He knows me better than I know myself. If I need a home, He will give me. If I need a dress, he would cloth me. If I feel hungry, the food would reach me. The only thing I need to do is, keep my

I know its weird but there is another fact which Jesus brought us. It is nothing big. You might have heard about it, The Lord's prayer. You know, the Christians say this prayer a lot - Our Father in Heaven. In that prayer, Jesus is teaching us to ask forgiveness from God for our sins. What does that mean? It means, if we genuinely ask God, our bad destiny could be cleared. Yyyyyiiiiiiiippppppeeeeeeeee. Its simply bomblastic. But we should find the right way. Best of luck guys. See you tomorrow. Until then, take care, Bye. Meena

Today I saw the most surprising sight, which really awed me and made me think too. A fishmonger was taking his fish in a cycle. The container was open and the man was cycling fast. But a crow came flying silently and took a fish and flew off and the man was not even aware of it. If he goes on cycling like that for a kilometer, he would become poorer by a kilo. Because crows are far smarter than men. We are like the fish monger. We have loads of talents, we have loads of goodness in us. But we don't even bother to keep it intact by not acknowledging it and cherishing it and in the end, it won't stay with us. It goes off. I have a friend, who has only one aim in life, to become rich. So he doesn't spend on himself or for his family what he earns. He feels, that if he saves that much money, he could be richer by the day. But alas, money is for daily use. If it is not utilized wisely, it goes off unused to others hands. And that is what happens to talents or goodness too.

A Parent Should Never Make this Mistake Don't judge your children, according to what others say. It happened once to me, when I was small, not so small, exactly during my adoloscence. At that period, my boarding mistress was my sworn enemy. She didn't have any complaints against me. So when my parents arrived, she told them, I received a love letter (Love affairs are taboo in boarding schools and Indian culture), which was a fib. My mother had her vapours, then and there. Seeing my mom's anger, the boarding mistress was glowing with pride, she was able to even a score against me. But my father, didn't utter a word. He waited for the storm to abate and then he spoke slowly, in front of me. "Sr. I am glad to hear, that my daughter received a love letter, or else, I would feel, she is not a normal girl. So where is the love letter? Can I see it?" That gave her the sweat. She replied, "Oh!! I was not expecting you. So I burnt it." opening up the

I do not know whether you would believe, I was thinking, I would be in my own coffin today. But when I woke up, I totally forgot about my death part and went for my ritual visiting my creator,to His place. Usually, when I am there, I am very talkative to Him, saying something rubbish in your standard, but not in my standard eh? Mark it, O.K So it was at that time, that I remembered I was supposed to be a soul. Oh you want to know, why specifically. I was not keeping well in the morning, I was feeling dizzy and I was having a splitting headache and I thought my pressure was getting low or something. So I started eating chocolates, big , small, hard, soft, but still I was not keeping well. Then I thought,my end is coming closer, good, because we all have this call at one time or the other, but my only request was, I want it to happen, when I am at home, than in a public place, where the people get confused, of what to do with my corpse and me in the mortuary, wasting my precious time

There is a flaw for me, I believe that all human beings are good, even if they hurt me, then too I do not place any blame them. So naturally my friends has classified me as a half crack. Anyway, that is no big deal. But if a pain in the ass person comes face to face and deals with me, then, how do you think I would deal? It happened years back, I was seven years old. I am rarely at home at that time. So unknowingly during one of my holidays, circumstance necessitated me to go to my neighbour's house. I met a man, very smart and good looking, I spoke to him for sometime and returned. That night, I heard shouting and yelling in the middle of the night. It was from this man's house. So I asked my cousin, why so much commotion in that house and her reply just froze me to death. She whispered, even in your dreams Meena, don't you dare go near that house. The man hasn't an iota of sanity. He sometimes get so violent that he attacks, anyone and everyone, who he doesn

What you sow, so shall you reap. Don't think that you should be a farmer. Its the actions, thoughts, words, etc..is what you sow and it will return it back. See you tomorrow. Until then take care, Bye. Meena

Today, I happened to be in a position where I had to live up to someone else's expectation. Usually, a human life is always living upto someone else's expectation. When we are born, our parents have an expectation, when we study, along with our parents, teachers too have expectation. When we grow big, the circle of expectation gets wider. But are we able to keep up to their expectation? That is the most dumb question we would be trying to answer. One thing we should remember, in life we are really having difficulty in fulfilling our own expectation, then, what would be the success percent of fulfilling other's expectation? Yes, you are right, it would be zero. But, if you include their expectation as yours, then you can make yourself happy and in the process, others could become happy. Life is surrounded by a lot of people and you are one among many, but don't put your self in that maze and vanish off. Each thought, each action has a lot of investment fro

The old generation look down at the new generation kids with disdain. For them, the newbies are good-for-nothing. They have no responsibility, non punctual, no sense of direction, goalless, shallow minded and above all insensitive. So with this in mind, I was walking to work, when a mother was rushing her two kids, a son, 7 years old and daughter 5 years old. But what made me watch this trio was, the boy was walking bagless, while the daughter was carrying her own burden, who had difficulty in keeping pace with her mother. I really felt anger boiling against the mother, who was carrying the burden of the son. At that moment, I got the shock of my life, when the boy, slowly took the bag of his sister without her asking his help and without the knowledge of his mother. I felt so proud of him, a seven year old showing sensitivity, understanding, whatever. It was a jolting experience. You might want to know, why? I could be put myself in the category of older generation. During our ti

Today I was thanking God, from the very bottom of my heart, that a drop of tear or two escaped my eyes. For what? That's the miracle, the beauty of life, the beauty of being human. You would feel it, when you stand in my place. If I may be frank, you might even howl your eyes out. That much big a miracle has happened to me. Now the miracle, I had written three books. I love all three, two are published, one is a romantic, " Follow The Heart & Time Your Tide " and the second is for children as well as for elders. The name, " Why Should You Love Your Parents ".The third is a family book, I have not named it. But I would surely do it. But there is one important necessity for every book, beauty, it should blend into the hearts, that work is done by the editor. I am a writer, but not an editor. Since I am not famous as a writer, I did not know whom to ask. So the best option with me was, ask God for the right person. I did. It was ages ago. Since there

Sorry, yesterday, I wasn't able to talk much, as sleep was trying to overcome me, I had only one thought, bed. But there is one thing, which I don't understand, why we should sleep? Yeah, I know, good for health, etc..But why should nature create such a state for all its living creation on this Earth? Have you wondered it? Well wonder it now. Actually, in the Bible, I have not seen a literal sleeping of Jesus, well there is, this sleeping in the boat part, but other than that, nothing, saying slept at night. But why is it like that? Is it not very important? Hmm.. actually, we will have to think about it. Sleep, hmmmm. I love it. And I feel, you people too like it, don't you? Do you know why? Because we are dead to the world for some time, that means, we get a chance to forget our sorrows, hurts, losses, whatever bad we are facing will be dead for sometime. But, do you know its not healthy? To cover our problems in sleep? Do you know problems are good for

Today, I have something to say to you, which is very important to both of us. I have written a book, Why Should You Love Your Parents. I targeted this book for children, because they are innocent. I want their innocence to be intact. We, elders, have grown so stagnant and stale that our hearts and mind have gone brittle, but to those adults who still feel young are most welcome to read this book, which can be downloaded freely, without a single penny, on 12-7-2013 12 am Pacific Standard Time till midnight. If it is Indian time, then it is 12-7-2013 afternoon 12.30 pm till next day afternoon, 12.30pm . But I have a request. I need your feedback, your review and rating. Would you be able to do that, please? This is my first book of this type and I am planning to do it in series. If the children cannot understand it, I'll have to make changes. So please be kind enough to review, criticize or suggest. The link to download at the above time is:- http://www.amazon.com/Should-Pare

Now, imagine we have thrown away anger, we are without anger, no one can make you angry, Hurrah!!!!!! Hip.. hip.. Hurrah! !!! It's cool, isn't it? Hmmmm.,... it is, but we have a long long way to go. We should break the barrier of religion. You might ask why? I am not saying, you should unfollow any religion. I am requesting you to take the good of all religion. Look at the world around, do you eat only traditional food? Have you ever tasted food other than your countries? The Chinese, the Indian, the french, Italian, American, the whole world habe different traditiomal meal, do you think, by eating other country's food, it would be treason. If so, then it's no use reading this blog. Look at the plants, we graft, we bud, we do genetic engineering to the seeds, why? Because we feel, the original seed cannot produce the desired result, so we take the good qualities from other seeds and merge into the one we have, do you know what that means, our seed is good, b