Archives November 2012

We live in an age where long-haired smiley sorts run crash courses to turn living into an art form and "laughter clubs" thrive because of the lack of anything funny to really laugh about, or laugh at ourselves. So there is nothing at all awry about a nationalized bank's recent directive which tells its employees to smile at work. But can an artificial smile do the job? Air hostesses are also asked to wear a smile all the while. While this may sound dangerously similar to Nazi Germany's "strength through joy" campaign—or for that matter, the management etiquette of a particular Indian airline-cum-television company—bank employees, notorious for their castor oil-faced dealings with customers, could do with a conscious effort to genuinely smile. A smile on the face gets a response. The other person warms up too. The miner-dwarves in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves seemed a happy more...

Recently, I visited a museum in the company of friends. It is housed in a tall impressive stone building surrounded by beautiful lawns along a tree-lined road. There are life-size statues of Lord Buddha near the gate. We entered. The entry is free. The museum presented a variety of scenes and sights. It is divided into different sections on different floors. In one there are masterpieces of art and craft. In another there are paintings, sculptures, and numerous specimens of pottery and emboiding. In the third we saw earthenware, vessels tools and toys of prehistoric period. Most of them were from Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro sites. In another section there is an art gallery containing beautiful pictures and portraits, depicting scenes of Mughal life. In the next section, we were surprised to see the ornaments worn by the women during different periods of ancient Indian history, coins of various dynasties and more...

The lot of the Indian farmer is hard indeed. He has to toil in his fields the whole day, and yet he is able to manage only the bare necessities of life. He lives a life of poverty, by and large in unhygienic surroundings. The house he lives in is a hut or a house with a thatched roof—which may leak in the rainy season. The village may be without a drain—water stands still and there may be mosquitoes. There may or may not be water and electricity. The members of his family and cattle live under the same roof. Usually, the living standard is low. The day of the farmer, unlike city-dwellers, begins with the crowing of the cock. The first thing he does is to feed his cattle, to milch his cows and buffaloes and take a glass of tea which his wife prepares for him over firewood. more...

Perhaps no other feature in the human body plays as important a social role as hair. Long regarded as the highlight of a woman's beauty, many references are made in ancient literature to the long flowing tresses of a beautiful maiden. In Indian thought, the mustache too has played a critical role in defining the virility of a male. With such a social outlook on hair, it is but natural that the barber plays an important role in the social systems of the people. In early ties, villages were small and barbers who visited houses regularly to cut hair or shave soon become a privy to the family situation and secrets. The barber, being a regular visitor watched children grow and blossom into youth. As a natural response he began to match-make. The importance given to a barber is perhaps a response to his old role in fixing weddings. In more...

It is always better to look before you leap or else there is a great danger of falling into a ditch. To act without prior thinking will lead us into endless trouble. Elderly people often say that haste always makes waste. Rushing into things without prior thinking will lead to wastage of time, resource and energy. Rash decisions many a times lead to dangerous and unwanted consequences. It is similar to jumping into a river without knowing its depth and flow. It does not mean though that one should delay in making decisions or avoid taking a stand, Rather, one should think twice before taking a decision. One should think things out rationally and logically to reach to a conclusion. Quick decisions are always welcome but not rash decisions. Even if one has to act on impulse and has no time to think things out as in times of an more...

Introduction. A book has a great power to make us good or bad. A good book may prove very useful for us, while a bad book may do Great harm to us. Why has the Ramayana impressed me? Of all the books that 1 have read the Ramayana influenced me most- This is my favorite hook 1 love ii most. The book has many charms of its own it is more interesting than a novel- II is more   philosophic than any hook on philosophy. It is a complete moral code. Hence it has influenced me most. II contains the life story of Ram who is though! To be an incarnation of God, Hence it is a religious book which helps us t make us good and pious. Qualities of the Ramayan. The hook is lull of ideals-11 presents every situation of life. From I he examples given in this hook, more...

Every year when the fruit trees start to flower again, 1 know that another fruit season is just around the corner. With starting regularity and simultaneity, the trees become crowned with red, white or yellow flowers, depending on the type of the tree- It is such a wonderful event, this gift of fruits from the trees and I am very thankful to Nature that we can enjoy these sweet succulent fruits. However, something puzzles me—it is the trees themselves- How do they know when to flower? Do They communicate with one another? From what I have learned in school, trees don't possess calendars nor can they communicate with one another. If that is so then the trees should flower at random and we will not have 'fruit seasons'. Rather we would have fruits at unpredictable periods. However, we do have these 'seasons', the flowering of the trees are definitely not more...

The word 'Environment' is derived from a Greek word which means 'surroundings'. In simpler terms, we can say that environment is the atmosphere which surrounds an organism. It is in this atmosphere that an organism lives, thrives, nurtures and sustains itself. Thus, everything that we see around us - land, air. water, flora and the fauna - consists of our environment. The environment exerts its influence upon us and thus our living conditions are indirectly controlled and affected to an extent. Any change in the environment is thus bound to disturb the harmony of the environment with its organisms. It becomes necessary for human beings not to disrupt this balance by their activities. This inter-relationship between the organism and the environment is the Ecological Balance which should be maintained at all cost. Environment can be classified into the following categories - Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere and Biosphere. The land with its more...

In this day and age, most of us know the benefit of keeping fit. Modern society has come to the point where it is believed that we need to keep fit to stay alive. Our work normally doesn't involve hard physical labour. So many of us lack exercises, The consequences of not getting enough exercises is frightening. On a mild scale, we may simply grow fat. On a more ominous scale, we may develop sorts of ailments that can kill us before we grow old. So we exercise, for our lives, There are various means by which we can get the exercise we need. If we live in the city and can afford it, there are fitness clubs and gymnasiums that cater to our needs. They offer aerobic dancing, jazz dancing, weight reduction exercises and other sorts of body torture guaranteed to make us sweat. For the poorer ones there more...

Alexander Pope had very rightly said, "Hope springs eternal in human midst, Man never is but always to be blest." Yes, there is nothing but truth in the statement. It is this hope that continuously dwells up in a person's heart and makes him exclaim that if winter comes, can spring be far behind? Rather it is the coming of winter that makes the arrival of spring more surer than ever. It is the night that ensures that there will be another day. The sinking sun promises before it melts into the golden sea that it will come back tomorrow with a beautiful dawn and a better, sunnier day. It is the clouds that fur sometime hide the sun but that does not mean the sun is not there. It has been there all the time, only we could not see it. What if the earth seems to be barren more...