My Guru, Guide and God

Bhagwan Sri Satya Sai Baba. Four words that lit a lamp in my life in the October of 1994.

That was the first time I heard of this entity; this being who did miraculous things, chief among them being, the transformation of the individual soul.

We all need a guiding principle in our lives, to help us make the right decisions, to walk us down the chosen path, to lift us up when we are down in the dumps and to bring us to earth when we have our head in the clouds. For most of us, that principle can come in the shape of a loved one- a parent,a child, a sibling, a friend, an elder- and for me, He appeared in the form of Bhagwan Baba.

There are times when I worry- often unnecessarily- about the insignificant nothings in life such as , "does my neighbour like me for who I am or what I can do?" or "did I say that the right way or did I offend her sensibilities?"
Then there are other times that I don't think twice about such things...finding them too trivial to be dealt with.Swami,however, has always been with me...guiding me to the one thing that makes me happy-being me.That's right.

It's only when you are content with yourself that you can be happy for others and happy with others.

Why women can't get along

Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.

H. L. Mencken
US editor (1880 - 1956)

No truer word was spoken.

If women and men can't get along, blame it on gender bias. If women and women can't get along, blame it on ego, obstinacy, high-handedness, loftility...need I go on?

Hardly any situation can exist without a certain degree of discord. In a way, that's fine, because it adds variety and spice to an otherwise monotonous existence.But when the same discord threatens to break up the very fabric that weaves us together, it moves out of the 'variety zone' and travels into the 'resentment zone'.

New ideas, opinions, judgements are all fine...within limits and when they do not spill put of hand.
But put a bunch of women in a room, ask them for their opinions on a subject, and stand back. Chances are you may just miss being drowned in the tsunami of the response. And I mean tsunami in the full essence of that word- violent, unexpected, unstoppable. That's how most reactions are to any situation where women alone are involved.

The basic premise behind this volatile situation is that women can't stand each other. Why?

It seems to me that women don't like each others' successes. They delight in finding fault, proving their point and are in a constant battle to present their one-upmanship (or should that be one-upwomanship?). Ask them what makes them jealous and you are most likely to hear that they don't like the way their neighbour's life is happier, fuller or more satisfying(although you will never actually hear that from any woman;)!

I have a 2 year old baby girl. My biggest concern now is, will she too grow up to be one of us 'women'? Or will the world be a more open forum where views can be expressed without anger and annoyance?

Somehow, I hope it all works out in the end.I can do without all the resentment and the negativity.

Keep the mind alive!

With more of the world going digital, there has been a sharp dip in the need to exercise our brain.

We don't have to remember phone numbers anymore---our phones do that for us.

Forget postal addresses--it is the age of e-mail and our friends are all just a mouse click away.

Don't have good handwriting? Relax...the speed of your keyboard typing is more important now.

But, all this comes at a great price! Weakened brains and minimal use of our grey cells.

Recently, I realised this truth and started to tackle some mental puzzles,doing crosswords and playing scrabble.

What worries me more is that our children are getting a direct entry into this digitised world and have no room left for creativity, genius or mental kung fu.

We have to pull up our socks and make sure that books are read, games are played and numbers are memorised. Let us not make robots of our kids.