"He thought of all the living species that train their young in the art of survival, the cat who teach their kittens to hunt, the birds who spend such strident effort on teaching their fledglings to fly- yet man, whose tool of survival is the mind, does not merely fail to teach a child to think, but devotes the child's education to the purpose of destroying his brain, of convincing him that thought is futile and evil, before he has started to think.

From the first catch-phrases flung at a child to the last, it is like a series of shocks to freeze his motor, to undercut the power of his consciousness. "Don't ask so many questions, children should be seen and not heard"! "Don't argue, obey!" "Don't try to understand, believe!" "Don't rebel, adjust"! "Don't stand out, belong!" " Don't struggle, compromise"!"

Once again, from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

I lay still, staring at the ceiling, as the pain envelopes around my waist. Trying to relieve the pain I pay attention to the surrounding noises. The house is quiet with my incessant chatter box gone away for play. I try to close my eyes, but somewhere in the sub conscious mind I know that she is waiting for me. So am able to distinctly over hear the conversation of A through the window and her friend calling out for her. And I decide to get moving against the will of my body. Few minutes from now, then I will be again in the midst of pre-schoolers chattering to their hearts content.

Photography and camera

At last, I own a DSLR! I wasn't 100% excited when I actually held it in my hand.
One reason was that I didn't know much of the technicalities of a DSLR camera.
The other, now that I had a DSLR I was compelled to learn about it and couldn't let it sit idle.

I always used to eye on DSLRs whenever I was outdoors taking pictures.
Now, that I have one it doesn't give me much pleasure.
May be it's because I still have to learn a lot about it.
My earlier Sony point- and- shoot and Samsung phone have been greatest companions and still they are till I am completely comfortable with Nikon.

Of course, I would still continue to use my Sony because of its lens' zoom which is much lesser in Nikon.

At present, am completely into learning the 'tips and techniques' of DSLR and have found delight in using the App Instagram.
Am loving both:)))

Stories of childhood

I feel older when she insists me to recite stories of my childhood. This happens quite often now as our television has become obsolete. The stories of my school, of my play, of my mischief, of my visits to grandparents and my encounters with my numerous cousins...

And, as the stories unwind there follows inquiries such as 'why don't I have?' or 'why wasn't I there?'
It's difficult to explain how things have changed now: from how 'we' were to how 'they' are now.
It's changed from playing in gallis and fields and farms to just play areas or parks with a slide and swing.
It's changed from playing on streets to corridors or parks.

The mere act of 'cycling', for example, has reduced to 'riding within restricted vicinity'. On roads it's dangerous. I often get reminded of the cycle rides that took us from school to friends' house;from picnics to coaching classes. A bicycle was everybody's best friend then.

How I wish I could show her what a joy that would be!
At least she is lucky, in a sense that her grandparents stay in a village where she can still enjoy things in its true sense.

"She planted a few seeds; she had started without conscious intention, but she saw it growing under her hands, pulling her forward, giving her a healing sense of peace. Then she understood that what she needed was the motion to a purpose, no matter how small or in what form, the sense of an activity going step by step to some chosen end across a span of time. The work of cooking a meal was like a closed circle, completed and gone, leading nowhere."

(From Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged)

Atlas Shrugged

I am currently reading Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged'.
She is such a powerful writer and I love reading her books.
But, to write an opinion about them is always intriguing.
I take-in so such when I read them but have always been left with very few words to write about. It's a difficult job.

I have read her 'Fountainhead'. I was confused, initially, as I was still an amateur reader then:)
I read it again and found out the full depth of it.

Now, it's Atlas Shrugged. In both she has portrayed such dynamic characters.
'Roark' and 'Rearden'- thought to be selfish by the whole world but they are confident about their goal and they take the courage to stand against the whole world to uphold their identity.

One quality that Ayn Rand's book highlight is that of 'Human Ability' which can perform almost anything and the 'hard work' needed to showcase that ability.

Though I have not completed the book, I felt I should write about it.
The font size and number of pages (which is over a thousand)are the only hurdles that are making me read it very slowly:(

The sights around the area of Dandeli are always welcoming.
That place can actually be called as 'Forest'.
One can easily say when they enter the vicinity as they can experience the cool breeze hitting their face.
The everlasting plantations of teak wood with its full length and broad leaves attract me every time I look at them.
Though they are always filled with dust yet they are appealing because of their size.
Without any pretence, this time I showed my daughter what an actual forest looks like.
But as soon as I mentioned forest she wanted to see the wild animals too.
Then she guessed all those animals were in the zoo rather than being in the forest!

Only thing that puts off during the travel are the worst condition of the roads:(

Looking back

There was a time some 15 years ago when I struggled to operate a computer.
Emails were beginning to catch popularity then but I did not know how open an ID. I did open my email account later but I was always in a dilemma whether I had to go to the same 'cyber cafe' and use the same 'computer' to see my emails again!!!

I did learn some of the basic operations much later and tried my hand in learning 'C' language too but never did I understood the rationale behind learning that computer language.

Of course I laugh at them now but they were very embarrassing then.

Now, I do feel I have come a long way from those embarrassing situations. I am much a learned person now, most of the lessons learnt on my OWN.
Especially so when I have my own blogs and being able to manage them.
From past two days I have worked very hard to give a fresh look to my blogs and also learn to increase the image size of my posts.
Finally, I succeeded with much googling and trial and error.

That's an achievement for me.

It is moments like these which make me wonder about the capacity of our 'Brain' or can also be termed 'Plasticity' of the brain.
It's the capacity to learn, un- learn and re- learn based on what happens in our environment.
It is this super- computer which I need to know more about than the one which is typing these texts.

Postcards from Rajasthan

Selling of colours on the streets of Pushkar...




Camel boys loading fire wood for the night camp.




A security man inside the Jaisalmer Fort.




Musicians entertaining in front of the Amber Fort, Jaipur.




Camel...just before taking us for a ride.




Mud houses of Jaisalmer.




Musical instruments on display by a seller.




A colorful garment shop in Pushkar.




A man peeping through the window in a museum.




A shopkeeper in Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur.

Lotus Pond

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the Hyderabadi lifestyle lies- Lotus Pond, mostly hidden between Banjara hills and Jubilee hills.

Though we could not find Lotuses in the pond (probably wrong time), there were quite good number of fish of different varieties.

We were happy to find a place which promised to give us fresh AIR.

Here are a few pictures...




A caption aptly written...which is in the next photo.




I liked the pattern of these leaves...




A prayer of the forest...Click on the photo to read.

Recitation

I have been browsing the net from afternoon for children's poems as I have to prepare A for her recitation competition.

Every where the results seemed to be same 'Nursery Rhymes'. Other than rhymes I could hardly find anything.

Then I changed the search option to particular poets and I was pleased to find the kind of material that I wanted.

I couldn't stop sharing these two recitals as I enjoyed listening to them....

Make room for Elephants

I know the world's a crowded place,
And elephants do take up space,
But if it makes a difference, Lord,
I would gladly share me room and board.
A baby elephant would do,
But, if he brings his mother too,
There's dad's garage. He wouldn't mind.
To elephants he's more than kind,
But I wonder what our Mum would say,
If the elephant's father came to stay!

By Ruskin Bond

Someone

Some one came knocking
At my wee, small door;
Someone came knocking;
I'm sure-sure-sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked to left and right,
But nought there was a stirring
In the still dark night;
Only the busy beetle
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The screech-owl's call,
Only the cricket whistling
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all, at all, at all.

By Walter de la mare

Like and dislike

It has happened so many times that I liked few people without any particular reason and disliked a few without any evidence for doing so...
And those perceptions have changed vice versa a lot many times.

There is a boy (who is in Grade 4) in the apartment whom I encountered several times last year. He is a boy with special needs.
Being a remedial teacher and after knowing that he is kid with special needs I avoided talking either to him or to his mother.

It's difficult to understand what made me do so.

I presumed that he was a child with lot of behavioural issues (which he ought to have considering his condition). I even thought how would I handle such a kid if by any chance approached me for help.

But, lately I have been taking English remedial classes for this boy!

One fine day, his mother approached me for assistance for coping up with his English and attention difficulties and I did not find a reason to say NO.
So, I accepted.

Few days took me to understand him and his behaviour (it's more difficult as he is slightly autistic).

Now, we seem to be getting along very well with each other.

He doesn't miss a single class, gets upset if the class is suspended without any notice, speaks a few English sentences which he failed to do earlier, loves watching his favourite Brain gym video. What more, he even wishes me good evening and thank you while entering the class and walking out.

He even laughs which I thought he seldom did. Though he does that controlling himself (do not know why), but he looks very cute when he does.

Casuarina Tree (gaali mara)

Images of Casuarina tree (gaali mara in Kannada) that was taken at Apsarakonda view point near Kumta...

Collection

Now, that I have all the time in the world to leisurely attend to some tasks which were left behind untouched gave me the chance to arrange and rearrange the collection of postage stamps in my album (not to forget the new look that has been given to S's coin collection).

As a school-goer I collected hundreds of stamps- begging, borrowing and even stealing (sometimes when the stamp seemed very expensive) from the posts of others' house.

Though collecting stamps and obtaining them, now, is an easy task with the deposits at the post office. Then, it was not known and the money too to buy them was insufficient.

So all that beg, borrow, steal concept.

But I do remember one of my cousin who promised to send me postage stamps from the US every time I wrote a letter to him (In English).

Being a student of Kannada medium class I had difficulty with English, not so much with writing but with speaking.

With hesitation, I had it started and he kept his promise by sending about 20-30 stamps of different nationalities each time.
I never asked him where did he get his supply of those beautiful stamps from.

Today, flipping those pages gives a different kind of joy and has given me the idea of showcasing them through this blog which I intend to begin soon.

His brilliance was visible in between a thin strip of arch.
His pure golden shade vibrated through the arch as though melted metal was oozing out from a furnace.
His presence would be felt only by countable people who happened to venture out on such a gloomy day.
The present days being covered with the hues of grey all around the sky, it would be difficult for someone to even imagine a sight like that.
Thanks to the birthday party which made us get out of our house and witness the beautiful scenario.
But there was no way of capturing HIS image in an electronic gadget.
All we could do was to fill our eyes with his spectacular rays that were waiting to hide behind the clouds once again.
Amid the pillars of iron and cement his rays pierced through our eyes.
He forced us to shut our eyes the moment we saw him but they didn’t stop us from looking back at him again.
This shade of his colour was never known to us (or rather to me) as we always saw him a tinge of orange with gold.
But this time the colour was PURE GOLD.