Life and Spirituality

https://www.amazon.com/Ashok-Malhotra/e/B00502LCCI Amazon announces free kindle editions of books from time to time. Those who have a kindle reader or  any other device to read books would find it worth their while to make use of these opportunities to scout their vast libraries and save a lot of money to read some great classical works as well as modern literature or other books on virtually every subject under the sun. Their search tools make it easy to locate a book that you might have in mind or you may just like to browse through and select one that catches your fancy. This week for five days, from Sunday the 27 th of May to Thursday, Kindle editions of five of my books are free too. Do look up on my author page if you caught this post in time. You can scroll through the list of books to see which one’s have a zero price. The link to the author page is here, https://www.amazon.com/Ashok-Malhotra/e/B00502LCCI

Sparrow by   Laitche My home is more than two and a half decades old. I built it in bits as and when I got time off from work in other cities but right from the start I began planting trees around the boundary. Some became too large with the years and had to be removed. They were put to good use. Seasoned and converted into furniture around the home as it expanded. However, the most delightful aspect of the trees was that neighbors too loved the idea and planted more and a variety of birds moved in to nest in them. Their tweets delight the soul all day, beginning well before dawn. A few like crows were irritating but thankfully, they are not visiting the area now and there was that naughty kingfisher that ate all my lovely little fish in a tiny cemented pond in the garden. I stopped keeping ornamental fish since and keep the pond dry most of the year. In monsoons its is used to collect rain water. Unfortunately, a few years ago I had to remove a large bougainvillea bu...

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...

T hose who have lived in a village or town filled with green spaces but have later had to move to a city for work, as very many humans have to do, continue to miss the green and open of countryside. A viable option for some is, if they have the savings for it, to purchase even a small farm of a few acres or a small building plot of a few hundred yards in a picturesque mountain village and build their own tiny dream cottage on it to visit in holidays or even move to for longer stays in retirement if conditions permit. One on sale may already be available but renovations cost a lot and one may never figure out where the kitchen drain leads to or how to fix the leak in the roof. Earth is not paradise but bits of it lie scattered across the Earth. If one looks around one can locate one such in most any country, at a location that is not difficult to access. It may be pointed out that investing in land is likely the best option in these uncertain economic times. After having ...

Birds sing all day around my home, day after day, year after year in ever changing compositions. Here is a brief recording I made of them yesterday morning The birds begin their chirping very early in the morning while it is still dark, here is another one recorded at that time yesterday

An old picture of Nand Rani (Nando) from around 1950 with her first born Deepak Malhotra I n life one shall come across humans who habitually create stress, conflict and hate while there are others who are peacemakers and spread love and peace. I have intimate experience of both kinds. My father who retired as a Colonel from the Indian Army was of the first type while mother was of the second type. She was indeed a godly soul if ever there is one among humans. Much of her life was spent in smoothing out obstacles and conflicts father would create for himself and others in the family, until she breathed her last on April 25 th  1999. They came to love each other nevertheless perhaps because life creates attraction of opposites. Moreover, she had confided in me that when she fully realized that at a young age, she had infant children on her hands and there was no question but to stick by him for the sake of children. The marriage had been an arranged one and I have des...

California Poppies have come to my garden W hile our conscious minds contain some knowledge, far more is knowledge is contained in the depths of our being. It is from here that intuitions, sixth sense and feelings arise. We may not be able to explain or understand the source of our feelings but they drive us much through life. One of these feelings is what is known as love at first sight. This love at first sight does not take place for another human only; it can take place for other things too such as flowers. Two flowers that have grabbed me thus in life are cosmos and California poppy. I had chanced upon a bed of California poppy in childhood somewhere and it grabbed my attention much. Everything about it - ferny leaves, pointy buds like hats of some elves in story books and delightful gentle flowers were delightful as is with everything about someone we love deeply. Even their flaws add a special charm as long as we remain in love with them. In the years since I have...