Meena Mangalathil:

            I go to this place every year to have my system checked up – A Thorough Check Up. It was not a 'one fine day morning decision', It has now become a yearly tryst. “As you all have heard about the saying “Precaution is Better Than Cure.” I make sure, that I do my thorough check and do the necessary rectification, before my system shuts down wholly. You might be thinking about which  place and which system.             The place is a Retreat centre, and the system, my soul. Now you might be thinking, why all these junky talk. Anyway do hear me first. So, this year, as usual, my spiritual clock went off when my last year’s spiritual energy started dwindling, I really started getting so much screwed up and a feeling of loneliness and depression started to creep in,  I knew  then , “Meena, it's time to look around for a place to recharge ...

            I had a picture of Delhi before I arrived, its usually, the best view, which they project in news channels and news papers – A clean Delhi, usually it would be the Red Fort and its road, where not a strand of hair lies on roads and coming from the airport too, I didn’t have a clue, what was awaiting me, then it started trickling bit by bit, garbage, here and garbage there, then the dogs – stray dogs. I was shocked to see it, as Delhi is famous for Animal Welfare Societies who treats the animals with much care and voicing all sort of legal issues in papers, that I was struck with the pathetic situation of the dogs here. Since it was dark, I didn’t have much option of going to look for it, but to settle for the night. Dogs are the best friend of Man. That I cannot deny but when the dog overgrows from friend to a burden, then what would be the situation of the dog? Well it has to roam about the streets, naturally and ultima...

Yesterday I attended a mass service of the seventh day of demise of a nun. I had no personal contact with the nun, but my invitation rose from the friendly neighbour relationship. So when the bishop who was presiding the mass, highlighted the nun’s personality, I was awed by the different facets he touched about the nun. And he concluded with a phrase which really moved me. She is a person who smiles even when her heart is breaking and I was awed by this comment from a bishop, so how much hardships she might have gone through, to bring such a comment? Life is too full of problems, big, small, fat, thin, long, short, goes the criteria of problems. Human being has an inbuilt mechanism to solve problems. But the way he utilises is the problem. There are two ways to solve it. One, by running away from it and the other by facing it. Whether facing or running, there are different routes, people utilize it. I had a friend, a farmer, who had a small financial problem. He took a loan from his f...

            After a long time, I meet not as the same old Meena, now I have become in the language of the young, a weirdo. Yes. Now when I say, weirdo, it's real weirdo because I have learned some real truths. Will you believe it? The truths which all people ask at some point of life, whys and hows and wheres, etc...             So you would like to know, what happened to make me a weirdo. Well, I have been writing a book - A book of adventure to find Self . It's actually a children’s story and while I started the first word, I had an odd feeling, I didn’t know what to write because a normal person doesn’t think of all that type of nonsense. But I wanted to write. For me it was breaking the shackles of my being. So then I was really stuck because I literally am not that genius. If I do not know, then what will I write? So I used my weirdo behaviour, I prayed, talking with God t...

I have had many a dreams about missing trains and flights and seen movies, about running to catch it. During those times too the fright really rose from within but when the actual sequel happened in real life, we were laughing.             It happened last week, when my sister came to meet me. She had booked a train ticket for 2 nd A/C from Delhi – Hyderabad. It was a limited stop train and usually, tickets to these types of train has to be booked weeks ahead. Likewise, she booked and got an RAC ticket for Andhra Express, which here is well known as Rajdhani Express. Whenever she had taken train from Delhi, she had only taken it from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway station in Delhi. So she concluded that this train too departs from there itself. Nobody felt to check the ticket, as she was a seasoned traveller and etiquette called for it that we accept her experience.             We r...

            I have always wondered, why people are not happy. They are always running for something like money, love, luxury, house, car, etc. They get it and still they are unhappy. Today I saw a group of people just living for existence-To Survive.   I was travelling in Dehi, when my vehicle halted in a red signal. Since, it was a junction, I had to wait for sometime there. I looked through the window and saw a spectacle, that really ripped my heart. There was a roundabout in the middle of the road and in it was an open space, just bare ground. And the roundabout was fenced with iron grills. In some places, there were some grills missing, but overall, we don’t find anything odd in the missing grills. But the sight within was unimaginable. For Delhiites winter had already set in, with fogs and mists and cold seeping in to the bones have all started. In this spectacle there where children ranging from 2 ½   ...

Love – Its The Elixir of Life. It might be for a person, for the nation, for mankind. But actually, What is Love? Love, it is a feeling which comes from within, from our Self. Its a feeling believed to cure all ills. It is a feeling  which makes us the perfect human being. It is a feeling which transcends all feelings, all bonds and above all it helps us unite with the Supreme God.   Love is portrayed in many ways. Love of parents, children, friends, spouse, etc... But can we define love? No, we cannot because it is unique in nature. It holds special and different meaning for each person.   By a simple look, a smile, a pat, a gift,   but the end result is indeed worth reviving. The main quality of love is unselfishness. Love humbles the person, he loses his ego, so as to accommodate each and everybody. A mother becomes a mother not only to her child but also to other children too. She with her love conquers the heart of her kids, their friends, their parents and a ch...