Oscar Award

Slumdog Millionaire has bagged 8 oscar awards out of which two have been bagged by A.R.Rehman who is a very talented music Director. I am sure this type of film will not run in Box office here. People in India are by and large escapists. Pl excuse me, I am not referring to intellectuals. I am talking about people from lower income group who form the large majority of population in India.They don't want to see stark reality in cinema. They look at cinema as a medium of pure entertainment. They want to forget the problems of daily life for 3 hours and move into the world of fantasies. But unfortunately, this type of escapism adds to more and more worries. For example, when somebody consumes alcohol to forget his worries. it may temporarily give him relief but when he returns to senses, he finds himself in more trouble. Cinema is a very powerful medium. It can be used to bring about transformation in people's lives. Movies like Gandhi have changed the lives of so many people in the world. I never knew Gandhi before I saw this movie. The message, Slumdog millionair gives to us is that although India is shining at the top, but underneath, there is lot of filth and dirt which needs to be cleaned up.

Core Values

I read a very beautiful article written by Shobhna Balkrishna in today's edition of Times of India on changing values in Indian Society. The gist of the article is that there is a conflict in thinking between the old and the new generation which is the root casue of all the domestic problems. There is one school of thought which says that old generation should change their thinking along with times. Their thinking is not in synch with modern trends. While there are some who think that younger generation is expected to follow in their elders footsteps. While it is true that change is envitable and our thoughts keep evolving with the changing times, there are some core values which do not lose their significance even with the passage of time like honesty, integrity, compassion, Tolerance, Humility and respect. Parents should instill core values in a child in the early years of childhood so that when their child is grown up, these same values will help him shape his behaviour. A child observes the behaviour of his parents very closely and tries to emulate it in his life. Parents therefore, must exemplify what they want their child to be. For example, if the parents themselves smoke, they cannot expect their child to refrain from smoking . It will look ridiculous if they lecture their child on the dangers of smoking on health. Good parenting means being flexible enough to accommodate changes in lifestyle without compromising on core values. Today's parents have been obedient to their parents in good old days. Now the time has changed. They can no longer expect their children to be obedient to them. They cannot use authority to impose their will on them. They need to give them time and space to take their own decision provided the basic core values are in tact. They should never impose their own will on them else the consequences will be grave.

The art of living

I had the privilege of attending 7 day workshop on Art of Living sponsored by the company where I was working.The workshop was organized in the basement of the building where our office is located. All the participants were told not to drink, smoke,eat non vegetarian food, or take tea or coffee during the period of workshop. These were the pre conditions for attending the workshop.I had no difficulty in changing my habits as I was a vegetarian, non smoker and I didn’t drink. My only bad habit was that I used to take bed tea. Whenever I had to skip it, I got headache. However, on the very first day, guruji who was supposed to conduct the workshop introduced himself and gave us some background of the founder and the organization as a whole. He then asked us a very pertinent question. “Can you control your mind?’ . There was a big silence. We were all scratching our head trying to find out the correct answer. One person said” We can control it through yoga, another said
through meditation yet another said through concentrating at a point and so on and so forth. There were several other answers. Guruji was unimpressed. He was sitting with his eyes closed and listening patiently to everybody. After we all finished with our ideas, he opened his eyes gently and with a big smile he said “I am sorry gentlemen. You are all wrong”. The fact is that you cannot control your mind through any of the techniques you have just mentioned. The more you will try
to control it, the more it will wander. It is so restless that even when you are sleeping, your sub conscious mind is working continuously.A restless and uncontrolled mind is going to impact your physical health. You get afflicted with several disease. You lose creative thinking which comes only with relaxed mind..The only method by which you can control your mind is through controlled breathing and this is where Art of living comes in." We then learnt different Kriyas from him. The main objective of doing Kriya is to learn the technique of controlled breathing. In each Kriya,we were told to sit in a particular posture and take breathing inward and outward in a given time slot. The soft instrumental music was played in the background which was very pleasant to hear.After I finished one particular Kriya, I felt as if the current is flowing across my whole Body.My mind became relaxed, free of tension. It was an unusual experience for me.

Treasure of Knowledge

Vedic mathematics is very different from traditional mathematics that we are all familiar with. It has been originated in India thousand of years ago. Vedic mathematics is based on sutras found in our Vedas. It covers Arithmetic, Algebra,Geometry,Trigonometry, Differential and Integral Calculus. Through vedic mathematics, one can do complex calculations mentally without using calculator. It is far superior to Mathematics that we know of. Unfortunately, due to faulty policy of our government, our students have been deprived of knowing this science. Today, we have become so much dependent on calculators that we don’t apply our mind to add even 2 plus 2. Shankuntala Devi who is considered a mathematics wizard is capable of beating most modern computers in fast calculation. She does it through vedic mathematics. I had the opportunity to read a book on vedic mathematics and I was amazed to find different techniques used for multiplications and divisions. Each of these techniques use the formula found in our Vedas. We have the treasure of knowledge hidden in our holy books, but sadly, we are ignorant of it . The typical Indian mentality is that anything Desi is Ghatia. We are always looking towards the west to tell us what we should do. We do not value and nurture our own science.

One small Incident

I was very fond of English movies in my school days. I used to go to see movies without telling anybody at home because my parents were very strict and did not approve of my going to movies with friends. We were only allowed to see children's film. I used to save some money from the daily pocket expenses I used to get from my parents. Those days, ticket for Balcony used to cost only Rs 1 and 4 annas and for stall, it used to cost 12 annas . My daily food allowance was barely 1 anna which was not good enough for me to be able to save anything for extra curricular activities. I used to skip day meals in school at times to be able to save some money for going to movie. On an average, I could manage to see one movie in a month with my savings. I always used to go to see movie along with school friends and never alone. I was scared of going alone as I was not very much familiar with bus routes. I used to go to movie on the pretext of going to meet some friend. I always used to go to matinee show for which the timings used to be 2.30pm to 5pm. Considering the travelling time which used to be 1 Hr, I could manage to come home by 6.pm before dark and so my parents never doubted my intentions. One day, while I was returning from movie, I got in a bus which I thought will reach my destination. In a hurry, I did not check the bus number. The route of this bus was the usual one that I was familiar with. So I never doubted that I was in the wrong bus. After travelling some distance, the bus changed the route. After going through some distance, I sensed the trouble. I was very scared. I stopped the bus and immediately got down from it. I did not know what to do. I had no money to catch another bus. Tears were glistening in my eyes. I started running without knowing whether I am going in the right direction. It was getting dark and I was worried about the fact that my parents will come to know where I went. I was running and praying " Please, God, help me reach home". After running few yards, I realised that I had not gone too far from my usual route. I reached home 1 hour late that day. My parents were anxiously waiting for me at home. I narrated the whole incidence to them.I could not give them any excuse for late coming as I was traumatised for what happened to me. My parents were sympathetic and told me to inform them wherever I go.

My father

I still have short memories of my childhood days. I was very scared of going to school. I used to cry, throw my hands and feet while our servant Dwarka will carry me forcibly in his lap to the nearby primary school. After 4th standard, my teachers realized that I was good in study . I started getting first rank in the class from 5th standard onwards. Slowly, I was so much used to it that I was not ready to let go the first rank to anyone else come what may. Fortunately, I did not have anybody else in the class who could challenge me. I became very popular in school being top performer consecutively for 4 years. I used to study very hard to maintain the lead. Now, let me come to the main point. Just before my final examination in 8th standard, I asked my father to help me write an essay on Florence Nightingale. I had heard from others in my family that my father's command over English was simply outstanding. I memorised the essay dictated by my father word by word although I did not understand the meaning of some of the words used in essay. When the same essay came in examination, I wrote exactly what my father had dictated to me. Before the final results were announced, the teacher who examined my English paper called me up and said. “I have examined your English paper. The essay on Florence Nightingale which you wrote in the exam was simply extra ordinary. Don’t tell me that you have written it yourself. I know you can’t write like that. But I want to know who has helped you write this essay. He must be a great scholar. I will be fortunate to meet such a person. When I told him it was my father who helped me write this, he was overwhelmed with joy. Later on, he came home and met my father and thanked him profusely for brilliant composition of essay.