Posts

The Offended

We have become a global community on taking offense over anything and everything. We not only take offense on a daily basis over trivial matters - we are actually always on the lookout to jump at an opportunity to get offended. And social media makes it all so easy to be offended from a (very) safe distance. What someone was wearing - and it does not matter if that someone is a person you are never likely to ever meet. What someone said - and it doesn’t matter if that someone had a legitimate reason or series of events leading up to that comment. What someone supported or did not support - and it does not matter if that someone  had cultural or religious or political views that necessitated that view. Anything or anyone that slightly deviates from our sensibilities is fair target. In our warped little world, they deserve our condemnation, ridicule, wrath and backlash. Every time I read a scathing comment on Facebook or Instagram, I can’t help but ponder - why do we do this?Why
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A Miracle Of Existence

Whether you are steeped in religious beliefs from childhood unquestionably accepting your existence or an atheist looking for logical, scientific proofs of evolution that explains your presence in this world, you can not get away from the fact that each one of us is a miracle of existence. Anatomically modern humans have roamed the earth for nearly 200,000 years, yet the workings of a human body are still a mystery. Admittedly, we know a lot but there is still a lot we haven't figured out. We know that our very existence is a delicate balancing act of countless biological processes, thousands of chemical interactions and multiplex of electro-magnetic forces working every single nano second of our existence without rest.  Scientists know that in addition to chemical aspects like water and oxygen, space or nothingness is one of our bodies major constituent. Our bodily atoms encompass 99.9 percent of space within which electromagnetic fields are generated by whirling electr
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On Sadness

Even the most joyful, benevolent souls out there have encountered some degree of sadness in one way or another in their lives. Sadness takes many forms but at its deepest and heaviest it renders us speechless and wrecks havoc on our vision of ourselves and our place in the world. Just like rose-tinted glasses present us with perhaps, delusional but soul satisfying, glowing view of the world where flourishing relationships abound, similarly sadness bestows on us a gravitas and a stillness of soul, where the world is perpetuated by dark clouds and relationships are draining and doomed. Nothing seems right, within us and out there.  And at these times when we are our most vulnerable, it really helps to remember that both happiness and sadness are a state of mind. The connection between how we feel and act on any particular day or occasion has a lot to do with what we think and draw conclusions from. And it is all data driven. The data in our brain and the neural synapses it generate
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Beyond Fifty

 This year I turn fifty in October. Sixteenth October to be precise. Needless to say getting to half a century is a big milestone in anyone's life. Most approach it with a mix of trepidation and doom. Trepidation of the things to come or lack of and doom of declining physical and mental faculties. The sage of the world approach fifty as a powerhouse of wisdom and a license to wag their fingers and shake their heads at numerically lesser aged mortals pointing out the folly of their ways. And then they are those who go into panic mode; the famously atoned ‘midlife crisis’. They throw their family life and everything they have slowly and steadily built to the wind and abandon themselves to revisiting the follies of youth.  Being a classic sun sign Libra, I weighed the pros and cons of letting myself feel one way or another as I foray gradually towards my fiftieth birthday. After all I have the time-luxury of ten months and fifteen days to make that decision and I want to get it
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Sweet Sixteen, Anica!

My youngest turns sixteen today.  Old enough to fill my heart with a slight pang that the day is fast approaching when she too will be looking at University brochures ready to fly the nest like her older siblings and I will have to deal with an empty nest syndrome, but still young enough to enjoy her delightful company; because a delight she definitely is. And I am not saying this with a mother’s bias because I have never been an overly gushy kinda mom. As much as I adore my children, I view them objectively as individuals; ie beautifully written but still having typos in their character-script! And what delights me about my youngest is her genuine warmth which she exudes wherever she goes. She is the kind of person who in a room full of strangers will come out bearing many friends. She is instinctively sensitive to the needs and wants of others and shows care in little unexpected ways that touches your heart. She is the one who leaves handwritten notes and bunch of flowers
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Changing Stories

There comes times in every women’s life; through charmed providence or cruel necessity; when she feels inclined either to start a new story in her life or end an existing one. This beginning and ending of stories,  however holds very little significance for men, because their entire lives, more or less, are played out in the same story with changing chapters causing ripples in their otherwise calm sea of existence. Most men set their course of life early on for their entire journey and even if they suffer tiny upheavals, it's nothing that cannot be addressed or ironed out in the next couple of chapters unfolding in their life stories. But why so many stories in a women's life? Because the emotional demands made on her are deeper and she herself changes with every major or minor change in her life. Every time she is in a relationship or gets married, or gives birth or gets divorced or cares for her aging parents, she switches into a new role and has to cultivate new sensib
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The Necessity of Nothingness

Whether you are steeped in religious beliefs from childhood unquestionably accepting your existence or an atheist looking for logical, scientific proofs of evolution that explains your presence in this world, you can not get away from the fact that each one of us is a miracle of existence. Anatomically modern humans have roamed the earth for nearly 200,000 years, yet the workings of a human body are still a mystery. Admittedly, we know a lot but there is still a lot we haven't figured out. We know that our very existence is a delicate balancing act of countless biological processes, thousands of chemical interactions and multiplex of magnetic forces working every single nano second of our existence without rest.  Scientists now know that in addition to chemical aspects like water and oxygen, space or nothingness is one of our bodies major constituent. Our bodily atoms encompass 99.9 percent of space within which magnetic fields are generated by whirling electrons around
Read more