Archives November 2012

For four days it rained non-stop. The rain was not very heavy but it kept on pouring without letting up. Our neighbours and we were all worried about the possibility of a flood—the levels of the nearby river had been rising steadily. The next day the river overflowed its banks and the water spread out covering the entire area on which houses stood. To make matters worse, debris were caught on the bridge thus impeding the flow of the river This had the effect of making the flood water rise even faster. The army came and blew a gap on the bridge to clear the blockage and this brought some relief to us. Nevertheless, the rain continued. It was wet everywhere—the ground, our chairs, beds; wet. We could not do any cooking and had to resort to eating canned food. By about four o'clock in the afternoon, it become obvious more...

Introduction. Our school was closed on 14lh of May for the summer vacation. On the same day I packed my luggage- I caught the first train bound for Saharanpur. 1 reached my house in the evening. In the company of my friends. Next day my friends came to meet me. In the evening I went for a walk with them. I remained busy with them for many days. On 30th of May I received a letter from my elder brother. He asked me to come to Agra. I started on the same night and reached Agra in the morning. My stay at Agra. I spent many days visiting all historical places. The great historical city charmed my heart. The famous Taj made me spell-bound. I visited Akbar's Fort. It reminded me the past story of Mughal Empire. I often used to bathe in the holy water of the Jamuna; Here more...

The Gita says: "Be humble, be harmless, have no pretension, be upright, forbearing; serve your teacher in true obedience, keeping the mind and body in cleanness, tranquil, steadfast, master of ego, standing apart from the things of the senses. Free from self; aware of the weakness in mortal nature." Lose the I, gain the self. Each soul is potentially divine. "We are not human beings learning to be spiritual; we are spiritual beings learning to be human," goes a saying. If this be so, why this forgetfulness about our divine potential? What causes this amnesia? Man indeed forgets that he is the son of a king. A child prince brought up by hunters does not know that he is of royal lineage; he will remain ignorant about his ancestry till somebody identifies him as a prince. Swami Vivekananda emphasized that the self in each person is not different from the more...

In comparison to us today, my grandparents never had TV, video, computers, jet planes or four-figure salaries. Their lives were not cluttered with so many consumer goods that we find today in supermarkets and shopping malls. For that matter, they neither had supermarkets nor malls- They did their occasional shopping in simple shops, devoid of air-conditioning or price-tags. They probably did not have to face arrogant salesgirls who gossip more than serving. Nowadays, cars are a common sight. Traffic jams have become a daily affair. My grandmother never sat in a car until she became a grandmother. She teases me sometimes, says how pampered we are. She says that in her youth, people got around on foot or on bicycles- Cars and buses were rare. Only a few rich people could afford cars. The streets were unpaved and not dangerous. There was neither pollution nor the deafening roar of timber more...

Meditation is attracting people in a big way these days. People often ask about the benefits of meditation. "What are we going to gain in meditation? Does meditation give us wealth and prosperity, besides peace of mind?'' The answer to such questions is: No, meditation is not something mundane or utilitarian; it is not for business or for material gains. If you are hankering for material gains through meditation, you will become victims of those who sell all kinds of package in the name of meditation. Sadly, large-scale businesses run by unenlightened people are flourishing all over the country. An enlightened person will never promise any material gain in this world or spiritual gain in the next world. Meditation is transcendental. It can be done in the marketplace but it does not belong to the marketplace. Rather, it is a sharing of peace and bliss by those who have attained more...

There goes an old saying "To be a champion, fight one more round," which is very true. Only tireless pursuit can create winners. Success comes to those who try and never tire. To be a winner, one has to learn to strive with perseverance, courage and determination. Success cannot be achieved in a day. The road to success is not an easy one. It is narrow, rough, patchy, long and full of hurdles and obstacles. One has to learn to overcome the hurdles and obstacles to achieve the desired goal. A little failure does not matter. In reality, the path to success is strewn with failures, With each failure one gets closer to success and with each fall one rises higher It may seem paradoxical and contradictory to talk of failures and falls alongwith success and rising higher. But it is the very truth. Each failure brings one closer to more...

Biodiversity means "the variety of life on earth," It is the variability of all living organisms — including animal and plant species — the genes of all living organisms, and the terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems of which they are part of. Thus, in essence, biodiversity represents all life. Biodiversity also includes the structure of the ecosystems and habitats that support essential living resources, including wildlife, fisheries and forests. It composes ecosystems that maintain oxygen in the air, enrich the soil, purify the water, protect against flood and regulate climate. Thus, it plays a great role in fulfilling basic human needs such as food, shelter, and medicine. India contains a great wealth of biological diversity in its forests, its wetlands and in its marine areas. The country is one of the mega biodiversity centres in the world and has two of the world's 18 'biodiversity hotspots', located in the Western more...

Introduction. India has four seasons. Winter is one of them. It lasts from the month of November to. In England winter is a bad time. Of course, some of the days of winter are very chilly and unpleasant in India also. Morning hours. In winter morning is the hardest time. The nights are long. So we wake up in the morning at 5 o'clock . But it is so cold that we do like to rise and   leave the beds. We cover ourselves with the quilt and remain lying comfortably on the warm bed. At last, we have to leave our beds and answer our natural, calls. The water is very cold all this lime. So we get fre.sh water from well or lap. But when we have washed ourselves, our hands become numb and we go to the fire place to warm our hands and other pans (if our more...

The time has just past six in the evening. It has been raining for almost three hours and the roads are wet, the pavements are wet and a lot of commuters are wet, Many are parked under the massive concrete shelter which is the new bus station. Buses plying on some routes are packed to capacity while on other routes, they have only a few passengers. Spread out over the passenger area are a large number of commuters. Some are holding umbrellas in their hands. Some are wearing raincoats while others are in varying degree of wetness. 1 can see weary faces sitting huddled-up on the few benches available in the bus shelter. A group of youngsters sit on the pavement. There is not a face that emits joy. Everybody is preoccupied with going home/ away from the wetness and the overpowering roar of the after-work crowd. I stand with more...

An intellectual is a person who relies on intellect rather than on emotion or feelings. His faculty of thinking is of a very high order. He seeks knowledge of a high order in his field. He is a rational to the hilt. He presents new ideas. Verily he represents the brain of society. Socrates, a Greek philosopher, preached the principle that knowledge is virtue. Knowledge is also power. Plato, another Greek philosopher, gave his people the idea of philosopher king's rule. He favored a government run by intellectuals and specialists.  Great intellectuals have worked for the welfare of the people. In India, we have the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House, comprising intellectuals representing different walks of life. Their expertise is made use of. Members of the Rajya Sabha deliberate with a view to prodding the government to take welfare measures for the welfare of the people. They give liberally of more...