Somehow when one reads stuff like people getting all worked up about a movie and going about threatening the people involved really gets on my nerves.   Just now read some BJP nut congratulated another good for nothing for announcing a 10 cr reward for anyone who beheads Deepika Padukone and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. . I just don't understand the hue and cry over a movie which is part of one's creative freedom.. It's just entertainment .. It's just something that a person conceives in his mind and wants to put forth to the audience. . They may have been inspired by some historical figure and might want the world to let know of the person .. and it's a commercial movie not a documentary where everything needs to be accounted for or should be exact. . Commercial movies are always a mix of fact and fiction. . Our country is said to be the largest democracy as well as secular but it only seems to be secular or democratic in paper Coz I don't see any tolerance towards caste creed color language religion or our so called fundamental rights in this country.  Intolerance abounds. . The kar sewaks or karni or these so called moralists or protectors of their clan .. who are they protecting in fact.. A queen's legacy.. no offence meant. . From what.. A movie wherein her namesake is shown dancing or some imagined romantic scene between the queen and the Sultan (the director has been crying hoarse denying any such scene) . .  Is this queen's dignity or strength of character or the respect she commands so fragile that it will fall apart just by a movie. . I don't think so .. If she was what I hear her to have been she wouldn't give a damn about what people think or how she's portrayed in a movie. . A movie cannot make or break any community..  If their values, beliefs and customs are strong then I dont think there is any reason to worry.. and people are intelligent enough to differentiate between fact and fiction. . Noone is going to judge the queen or her clan on the basis of a movie..  these so called moralists and preservers of their community if they open their eyes and ears and look around at the injustices being done to women and children in the society and hear their pleas or cry for help they wouldn't be wasting their time trying to ban a movie..

A l'l me time with myself. .

Be positive think positive see positive hear positive say positive stay positive. . You should never assume things. . Never ever jump to conclusions without knowing the truth.. stop trying to live in others minds. . You don't know what they are thinking .. you just are making guesses.. and most of the guesses maybe bullshit churned up by the negative thoughts in your mind. . You end up making wrong assumptions.. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. . Improve upon your strengths and work on your weaknesses. . Respect yourself take good care of yourself laugh smile spread happiness around not negativity.. Love yourself and love your loved and dear ones too.. trust yourself as well trust the person you love too.. believe and trust in their love for you. . Accept their love.. It's high time .. stop thinking and spreading negativity. .  Saying it again .. be positive think positive see positive hear positive say positive stay positive. .

High on Riverdale high.. still got the hangover..

It's been so long since I visited Riverdale. . I used to often roam about in the lanes of Riverdale and run along the corridors of Riverdale high when I was in my teens.. I still remember hanging out with the gang be it watching Juggy gobbling up burgers after burgers or Archie running after Ronnie or Bets. . You won't believe it I actually had a teeny weeny crush on guess who. . Eeks.. Reggie. . That was a nice trip down memory lane. But you must be wondering what triggered this emotion all of a sudden. It's just that yesterday while flipping channels on the idiot box  I chanced upon the televised version of Archie comics ' Riverdale'..  so much has changed while I was busy trying to come to terms with the transition from my teens to my tweens to my threens.. Riverdale has changed. . The gang seems to have matured. . Betty seems to have found her soul mate in Jughead.. Archie has got his pitching right with one of the pussy cats.. Veronica is not the rich brat she once was.. she is trying to knot up her family ties that seem to be getting loose around the edges.. it made me realise how time flies. . Everything changes even comics. . The gang seems to have aged along with me.. but still when I look at those frayed pages of the old Archie comics I get that nice tingling feeling in my tummy as if have become a teenager again.. These moments can make the time stand still.. ��

Can't run, then walk; can't walk, then crawl but never ever give up..

Julie Moss, the American triathlete who in the 1982 Ironman triathlon crawled her way into the hearts of millions around the world. She lost the race to Kathleen or Kate but she turned to be the real winner in the long run. She was basically a student who was doing her major in physical education. Triathlon was the topic she chose for her thesis because this was one of the competitions that tests ones physical endurance to the limit. She was very casual about the event and didn't train herself as much as she should have. In a way she reminded me of a certain Smitha Gangadharan I happen to know very personally, I mean the way she would procrastinate things and leave it till the last moment. I could certainly empathise or rather identify with her on that account. Anyway she started off well and was kind of leading but towards the end she got dehydrated and was losing energy but somehow she managed to find the will to get back on her feet and keep on walking howmuchever she stumbled or even when her legs gave away. I saw the video and her legs almost seemed like jelly. Could see her struggle but I didn't feel any sympathy it was more like awe that I felt on seeing her willpower. Falling down, getting back up, again falling down and declining to take anyone's help as it would have disqualified her. I mean even when she was at her wit's end she kept her wits about her. Just seeing her cross the line on all fours, somehow such moments of courage and determination make one feel truly inspired.

Humbled by the clouds...

It's funny the kind of thoughts that pop into ones mind while travelling by air.. just was looking out of the window. . Saw these clouds all fluffy and white like cotton candy or just cotton. . It makes one wonder we are all fighting about where we come from.. We form opinions about others on the basis of the place they are from or their caste creed religion. . But from the top over the clouds it's so difficult to know where one is.. it doesn't matter above the clouds .. They all seem the same. . Whether it's Delhi or Chennai or Bihar or Nagaland the clouds are all the same everywhere ..

Curiously natural...

Always keep hearing people refer to sex as natural or unnatural.. sometimes don't understand what they mean by unnatural sex I mean I wonder whether they even know what they are talking about. .coz  most of the times people use this term to describe same gender sex.. but what I believe is nature has nothing to do with ones sexual preference.  By natural, we mean, intended by nature.. and yes nature's main concern is the existence, survival and propagation of all the species on this planet. . From the point of view of procreation or propagation of one's species a man and a woman needs to commune to get the desired results.. otherwise sex with mutual consent according to your nature or preference is natural sex irrespective of the gender of your partner. . What I deem as unnatural would be something forced upon a person or done without mutual consent. Abusing children, abusing animals or even a dead body is what I would term as unnatural and as an illness of the mind that needs to be addressed..

A poem about the Montessori philosophy..

Montessori class is like no other,
Calm and peaceful, neutral in color.
Amazing materials to challenge the mind,
And countless opportunities to grow and to shine.

A harmonious tone, where grace and courtesy are seen,
Children helping, children learning, exploring why leaves are green.
A joyous community where independence abounds,
Learning through the senses, sandpaper letters to learn the sounds.

Learning about the continents, working with landforms too,
Learning the parts of an insect, persevering to tie your shoe.
Pushing in your chair, rolling up your mat,
Using the Moveable Alphabet to spell the word, ‘c-a-t’.

An environment where children work at their own pace,
Discovering, exploring, no pressure to win the race.
A philosophy that helps children be all they can be,
Guiding their learning by following their lead.

Intrinsically motivated,
Independent too,
The power of the absorbent mind
Soaking up knowledge through and through.

Maria Montessori is one of a kind,
An acute observer, an intelligent mind.
She believed in following the child’s lead,
And giving children the tools to help those in need.

A Montessori class is like no other
And a teacher I’m proud to be
A role model, a facilitator, a nurturer, a friend,
Guiding them on a journey that I hope will never end.

I feel so proud, so honored and blessed
To help each child achieve their best,
To instill in them a love for life,
A passion for learning and a zest for life.

SLOW DANCE

You guys must have read this poem that had been circulating the net for sometime. . It's claimed to have been written by a terminally ill child. . It's really worth reading again and again. .

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask, “How are you?”
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short
The music won't last.

Ever told your child, 
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die 
Cause you never had time 
To call and say,'Hi'

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last..

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Freedom - is it a myth or for real. ..

Reading about all these shooting of people in broad daylight by goons on their vavavoom bikes just makes me wonder what kinda right or freedom do we have. .  Freedom of expression.. freedom of speech.. freedom of the press it goes on and on and on.. but the moment we try to exercise our right someone's gun goes ratatatatat. . This makes me wonder whether the freedom to fire the gun overrules the freedom to fire our thoughts. .

I really do wonder are we really free. . We keep reading in our history books about Indian independence and about the freedom struggle that brought about the downfall of the British Empire that had us in shackles.. are we really free of the shackles .. Indian independence seems to be a myth.. just the oppressors have changed.. If before it were the British East India now it's our own Brutish Poly Tics..  

Start 1% at a time to reach 100% in no time..

As was asked of me by a friend I went through the philosophy propounded by Dave Brailleford which he put into practice while coaching the British Cyclist's group Team Sky with great success.. Lately they seem to be embroiled in some doping controversy which is something every sports person seems to be a part of at least once in his career. Anyway as it has nothing to do with the philosophy in question I would rather skip that bit. So back to the principle of Aggregating marginal gains.. it seems to have been inspired by a certain Japanese philosophy known as Kaizen which means continuous improvement. The irony of the entire thing is that even the Japanese can't claim it as their own Coz this philosophy was first proposed and put into practice by the Americans during World War II. This philosophy is basically about not looking at the big picture and breaking the goal into small achievable tasks. Then work daily on a regular basis to improve upon the small tasks by 1% at a time. . This requires lots of patience and consistency. One should not expect miracles overnight as it's a gradual process and it takes time and works by aggregating these small small gains which won't be pretty evident initially but in the long run we will reap the benefits. . Just like in farming as we dont stop with just one harvest and the entire process has to be repeated again and again for every subsequent harvest, the same way just because we reached our goal we should not stop making those efforts that led us to this happy outcome.  One more example to put this across would be a buffet. Basically a buffet attracts as well as overwhelms us. We tend to want to try everything and end up piling up our plate and later regret by not being able to finish by leaving half the food untouched. But if we take little quantities at a time we might be able to taste everything and it might leave us much more satisfied and our stomach too would thank us in the long run. So basically as not to get overwhelmed by the enormity of our goals and to prevent our brain from pressing the panic button and pulling us back we better cut the tasks to smaller chunks and put in consistently atleast 1% effort daily.

Channa story - the beginning....

It is always nice to find humour in the most mundane day to day activities or rituals in one's life. It's fun to see the world in a humorous light. I always used to wonder how it would be like if all the inanimate things had life in them. Yeah kinda like toy story. . I mean the food we eat or the chair we place our bum on or the car we drive around. . It would be one crazy helluva life na. This occurred to me today while having my breakfast mmmm actually brunch because the clock was striking 11 at that time. . I was having appam and channa. While I was having my food one of the channas fell off my mouth onto the floor and rolled off under the table. It felt so funny I started laughing.  It seemed as if that particular channa had a life of its own and was a rebel who wanted to break free from the monotony of being ground to a pulp by my molars and incisors ....  it just leapt off my lips onto my bosom then onto my knee and then onto the floor and rolled off to safety under the table where it knew it was safe for the time being from my plundering hands. Little did the poor thing know that fate had other things in store for it. It was just a matter of a broom sweeping it off its feet and being dumped in the dustbin and thus it's journey to God knows where begins. 

Hypnotised by life..

There are times I feel I should go to a hypnotist and ask him to hypnotise me.. and make me do all the things that my conscious mind won't let me do.. and he has to record all the things that I did during that induced conscious yet unconscious state. Later when he snaps me out of my dream state I would ask him to play the video over.. maybe the recordings will give me a glimpse into my real self. . My calibre. . The things that are hidden within me.. The things that am not aware of I have in me. But then am afraid too because without my consciousness I would be too vulnerable. All the bad and dirty stuff have hidden in the inner depths of my mind might come out. All the old scars would start bleeding again. The mask might fall off.. hmmmm...

Ready steady start upppppp. ..

You know what I have personally felt about start ups that they should be original in their approach. Here what happens is that a certain startup starts doing well and all the others start following suit. The so called herd mentality.. So what happens is that too many players in the market and half of them substandard. .  The consumers are spoilt for choice . .the followers' below standard work may leave a bad taste in the mouth and this might indirectly affect the good ones. I suck in business and the only business I have had anything to do with is the subject business studies in 12th. But there's one thing I always used to believe, maybe Coz am a Virgo the so called suckers for perfection among the zodiac, that one should always put quality before quantity. . A start up should start small and then build upwards. . Rather  like a chakra that starts slow and then widens it's circle of fire than the rocket that zooms up and then fizzes out.. All these acquisitions look good on paper but when one is trying to stand on one's two feet how can one steady oneself by adding more burdens onto one's back. That too failed startups. . Anyway these are just personal musings of mine. . I may not know much but I personally would like to see start ups do well Coz startups are the efforts of those people who had the courage to put their passion and dreams to test..

Children's day out at the zoo..

Last year we went on a field trip to The Guindy National park. . There the students had a glimpse of the different types of animals found in the animal kingdom.. They saw the chittering- chattering monkeys monkeying about in their cages . The snakes all sleepy and creepy slithering about in their reptilian splendour. . The ostrich and the Emu trying to outrun each other in their pursuit of flightless glory.. The peacock looking as royal and regal with its beautiful feathers spread out as if to welcome us into its world. . The shy little tortoise playing peekaboo by withdrawing into its shell. The deers endeared us to them with their doe eyed innocence. . The hyena gave us goosebumps with its human like laughter.. the parrots parroting about, the love birds being all lovable, the flamingos in their pink of health, the quacking ducks, the saintly crane meditating on one leg were all a sight to behold.. It was altogether a splendid and an enjoyable trip..

A walk around the sun, the Montessori Way. .

To honor Dr. Maria Montessori on her 146th birth anniversary we the Pupil Montessorians tried the traditional way of celebrating birthdays in a Montessori House of Children. . It's known the world over as the 'Walk around the Sun'.. herein the child celebrating his birthday would walk around a lit candle or lamp representing the sun with a globe in his hand in accordance with his age in years. For instance a 5 years old would go around 5 times while the rest of the children sit around in a circle singing the Montessori traditional birthday song.. so last year to commemorate Dr. Maria Montessori's birth anniversary the Pupil montessori children all assembled on the stage and sat in a circle around a lit lamp. Each child representing an year of Montessori's glorious life was given an opportunity to walk around the lamp with a globe in their hands. After that we briefed the children about her life and achievements. Then we finished the ceremony with the distribution of sweets thus ending the day on a sweet note. .