Today we see that children don't listen to their parents, teachers and elders. Well, this used be the case when we were young too. 

When men of my age were of school going age, in most households mothers used to be religious whereas fathers were busy in going to work, going to the bank and shouldering other home related administrative responsibilities. 

In general, boys used to emulate fathers more than mothers, when it came to attitudes and behaviour. I was no exception.     

I think that if I had developed spiritual interest like my mother, I would not have come across many difficulties in life. For example, if I had done Sandhyaa Vandanam every day immediately after my Upanayanam, I would not have got into a wrong marriage in 1982. This would have made my life and thereby my parents' lives, happier.

Similarly if I had listened to my father and took English Literature as my main subject in my first degree, I would have done my master's and probably Ph D and helped many students excel in the language (My father used to be proud of my English language skills). But as memorisation was very important in first degree exams in English Literature in those days, I dreaded taking up English Literature. (Even today in most Universities in India, English Literature and not English Language Teaching is offered as Main Subject at the first degree level).

As a Sanskrit verse says, mother, father, teacher and guest should be treated like God.

Divine Solace to a depressed mind

As I write this post, I am experiencing the Joy of viewing Shree Lakshmi Nrusimha Sahasra Naama (Thousand Names of Shree Lakshmi Nrusimha) paaraayana congregation in Bangalore via Sankara TV channel. It is a solace to my depressed mind with nearly a month having gone by since my beloved mother passed away.

In previous posts, I have mentioned about Shree Ganapathi Satchitananda Swamy; he founded and runs the Avadhoota Datta Peetham. Today is celebrated as the 75th birthday of this great spiritual master. The swamy's 3.5 square metres book 'Bhagavath Geetha' (meaning 'God's Song') in 18 languages entered Guinness Book of World Records today.

A few years back he organised a one crore Hanumantha Japa congregation in Andhra Pradesh. This service too got recognised in Guinness Book of World Records.

Had my beloved mother been alive today, she would have seen the proceedings on Bhakti TV and would have experienced the joy. (I inherit my interest in religious aspects from my beloved mother).

Reema Lagoo

Heartfelt condolences to the family members of talented actress Reema Lagoo who passed away before dawn this morning. As far as I have known, she was one of the few dignified artistes such as Satish Shaw, Mohan Ghokale, Om Puri, Jaspal Bhatti and Mrs Jaspal Bhatti. I think that her TV comedy serials such as 'Thoo thoo mein mein' will be remembered by people for years to come.

Mother's day

Google's gesture today on their 'Search' page is a fitting tribute to all mothers. As their communique puts it, every day can be mother's day, as it used to be in India. I read in a newspaper that men in a village in West Bengal  (India) wash their mother's feet every morning and sprinkle that water on themselves; I am ashamed that most of us don't show our respect like this. Although these men may not be rich in materialistic terms, they are exemplary.

School, home and child friendly science

As I'm writing this post I am watching a 'Tech 24' on France 24 TV channel.  It is an interesting programme illustrating simple school science activities that can be done by children in their own homes with adult supervision.  I think that our school systems in India have a long way to go even in implementing such simple programmes in their curriculum, let alone involving all parents across barriers in school processes.

Following are a few photographs about which I had mentioned in my previous post:

From L to R: Madhu (my maternal aunt's son), my mother and Ramesh (my brother) when Madhu visited us past month

From L to R: My mother's attendant, my mother and Ramesh (my brother) nearly two months back

From L to R: My mother, Ramesh (my brother) and my maternal uncle when he visited us a few years back

My beloved parents in 1997 nearly a month before my father passed away (due to cardiac arrest)