Life and Spirituality

My daughters took some time off from their busy jobs and visited me with grand children. As the kids went for an afternoon nap, I snapped a picture of my daughters relaxing in the garden, enjoying the afternoon sun ever so pleasant in winters. Then my younger daughter snapped a picture of me and the older daughter. I posted some of these pictures on Facebook and friends commented that I have a lovely garden. Yes truly nature has been kind. However my response was, Mother earth has a lovely garden for all willing to help her a bit in some planting with their hands and hearts.  My own hands have planted and watered all the plants and trees in the picture.

Two little sisters in a fruit orchard and garden S ubsequent to retiring from active professional work in 2010, this author has spent time in campaigning on various issues to improve the planet and the life that dwells upon it. The issues have ranged from environment to spirituality, life style to child welfare. It is true that no one human can make a difference to the many challenges our world faces but all can make a little difference even by just a small act of kindness or just planting a tree anywhere they find ground for it. If one keeps at it, some of these efforts can make a huge difference in lives of many as a few of the posts of this blog have done including one encouraging a biscuit maker in India to replace trans-fats in their biscuits with a healthier oil. It is a biscuit that is consumed daily by millions of children across India because of its low cost and easy availability. On the issue of children, this author has personally campaigned much on social...

https://twitter.com/kingofkings_99/status/990997969011970048 I saw his image on twitter and was touched by the image. Humanity has driven itself to a sorry state indeed when it is unable to take care of its children and drives them to the street to fend for themselves. The boy has lined up his shoe polishes just like a child might line up his toys at home; he has not slept well last night it seems inside whatever he calls his home; soon a well dressed man in a tie shall come and wake him up for a shoe polish; he shall throw down some coins for the boy to grab, and away the boy shall run perhaps, dragging his hurriedly stuffed bag, to that man who sells those lovely sandwiches down the road, his daily bread that he shall eat sitting on the pavement leaning against the pillar of a shop with the utmost of delight and happiness. Those sandwiches are good, perhaps the kind sandwich vendor stuffs in extra slices of hard boiled eggs for the child in the one sided open sandwich...

Lokesh and his mother. May God bless and protect these children and children everywhere on Earth A cross my home in India, is another home that was sold recently. The new owners are redesigning and reconstructing parts of it. The contractor has allowed a laborer, his wife and two kids to stay in the under construction site so as to keep an eye on supplies in an otherwise vacant home. In recent times, there is some prosperity in India and extreme poverty has reduced but there still remain pockets of poverty and it is out of these that most construction laborers come. Poverty is not new in India. It has been there now for several generations with some families and when that happens, humans can sink to the lowest of depths of humanity and this could be the case with the laborer just mentioned and his two kids. Often it is a matter of proper knowledge rather than poverty alone that does this to humans. This laborer has a two year old son and a five year old daughter a...

 children shoes captured during refugees crisis.  Budapest, Hungary, Central Europe,  2015. CAUTION: This article is deeply emotional and discretion is advised before choosing to read it. Please scroll to end of note for a new Xmas song being sung by some I saw an image that has touched me deeply on TV. It was a small boy. It was a fleeting image that has appeared more than once on BBC World service in a collage of images that are used as signatures before and after programs and many thoughts have   gone through my mind as I have tried to imagine what the full story of this sweet little boy of less than five might be, not very different from my own grandson at that age. Little children everywhere are so much alike especially when they are less than five. The image touched me even more than that of Aylan Kurdi of about the same age lying face down in the sand on a Turkish beach, because this boy had not yet left for heaven. https://pbs.twi...

Two Children Playing   C hildren on the whole are happier than grown ups most times because children worry less about future, finances, health, career and everything else besides that troubles grown-ups and makes their lives less than happy. For the most part, children leave those worries to parents and other grown-ups while they concern themselves with their immediate needs of the day and their play. No wonder they sleep like a log and dream of sweet things while they do. When we grow up, either our parents have already departed or if not, they may have become too old to play the role they did when we were young and would be in need of care instead. However, there are some adults who trust in the Lord and regard Him as both father and mother and therefore are able to win back some of the happiness they experienced as children. Certainly the Lord is infinite and formless but since His consciousness flows through everything he may be regarded as a Father or Mother or...

O ver the past few months, moved by distress of large numbers of children in different parts of the world, I have written furiously, more actively towards the cause than ever before from children on the the American borders to most recently those in Gaza, in this blog as well as much elsewhere on Facebook, Twitter and various other places online. The hope has been to win a few hearts and minds to come forward and contribute in any way they can to help relieve the distress of a child or even a few children, or in the very least to stop making it more difficult for them by branding them as illegals, human shields etc and whatever else increases the distress of these sweet innocent yet traumatized children. Many of my communications have been addressed to world leaders, world organizations and to ordinary folks like you and me. In the process it goes without saying that it upsets some vested interests deriving benefits, howsoever misguided, from the situation and one also faces ...

You brought us to the world, now we belong; If you keep us safe, we'll sing  you a song A painting of children at play by Karen Arnold W hile childhood is supposed to be the happiest and loveliest part of life for humans, it is very tragic that large parts of the world have become increasingly unsafe for large numbers of children. Despite much progress in other areas of life, humans appear to be failing when it comes to children. Unless this trend is reversed it will not augur well for the future of mankind. While poverty due to economic greed, exploitation, corruption etc. is a serious cause for hunger and malnutrition amongst children, the present note is not about that since that is not a problem specific to the modern age, even though some of it has returned to the most developed parts of the world too as economies have returned to their historic trickle up mode after a brief lull of around fifty years and wealth inequalities have increased. There are ot...

A humanitarian appeal for a part of the world that has seen one of the worst tragedies that mankind and little children have seen in recent times, for the sake of the loveliest amongst humans- little children: Now that a ceasefire has come this author hopes that Gaza and Israel would both work hard to let bygones be bygones and work towards a better, safer and brighter future for their children. Americans could atone for any inadvertent errors of the past in ensuring that this happens while contributing in a major way towards the rebuilding of Gaza that lies in ruins because it is primarily American support, vetoes, money and weapons that have made this havoc possible. The money for this reconstruction will not place any additional burden on the American people if simply the aid America gives to Israel is redirected for a few years towards this reconstruction. It would be in the best of American values and tradition where even in the past it has helped countries like Germa...

Three month old Rudra of Malin Village A few days ago at a place called Malin Village in Pune, India, a landslide brought an entire hillside crashing down and wiped out over 40 homes. Tens of bodies have been found and the count is rising; 150 are still missing. Earlier in the year the hillside above had been cleared of trees for farming and the hillside that had held solid for hundreds of years came crashing down in the rain because there was nothing to hold the soil together now. In a small home a mother was feeding her three month old baby Rudra when the crash happened. All around them their home came crashing down and they were trapped in tons of rubble. She screamed for help but none heard and she eventually fainted as did the grandparents of Rudra in another corner of the same home. But Rudra continued to cry and yell from time to time. His cries were picked up by listening instruments of a rescue team. The rubble was cleared carefully and underneath was Rudra ...

  Child migrants from Central America     Little angels arriving on the American southern border in the thousands It must be mentioned at the outset that from every possible definition of a refugee, these unaccompanied children arriving on the US southern border are refugees and not immigrants, even though some in USA have been referring to them with the latter nomenclature. It may be mentioned that if a group of humans crossing an international border are refugees or immigrants is not determined by individuals but is an International determination. The UNHCR has concluded that a majority are refugees. The distinction is important because different laws apply to different groups. According to vox.com these children are fleeing from a situation that is twice as dangerous as Iraq , 2008-12. A report on these children by UNHCR is here http://unhcrwashington.org/children   For a formal definition of a refugee please see http://ashokmalhotra.wordpress.com/201...