Self and Social

It takes courage to answer a call It takes courage to give your all It takes courage to risk your name, It takes courage to be true. It takes courage to say, what no other will dare, To be standing alone, one whom no one will own, To be ready to stake, for another man’s sake, It takes courage to be true. It takes courage to say, what you know will not pay, To give each one share, though will be less to spare, To be seeking no more, than the neighbour next door, It takes courage to be true . ( The above poem is from my daughter Shubhra’s school Book but it is very much relevant with present movement against corruption in India by ANNA) “ANNA” did it when other Indian could not think about it. It was easier to fight against British rule than to oppose inaction of a democratically elected own govt. on CORRUPTION issue. It is easier to post a “tweet on TWIT...

This story begins when I was a child: I was born poor. Often we hadn’t enough to eat. Whenever we had some food, Mother often gave me her portion of rice. While she was transferring her rice into my bowl, she would say “Eat this rice, son! I’m not hungry.” This was Mother’s First Lie. As I grew, Mother gave up her spare time to fish in a river near our house; she hoped that from the fish she caught, she could give me a little bit more nutritious food for my growth. Once she had caught just two fish, she would make fish soup. While I was eating the soup, mother would sit beside me and eat the what was still left on the bone of the fish I had eaten, My heart was touched when I saw it. Once I gave the other fish to her on my chopstick but she immediately refused it and said, “Eat this fish, son! I don’t really like fish.” This was Mother’s Second Lie. Then, in order to fund my education, Mother went to a Match Factory to bring home some used matchboxes, which she filled with fresh...

By Marguerite Theophil , The Times of India, Ranchi (Saturday, January 1, 2011) A gift of a bracelet from Ghana at first looks like a series of linked hearts, but on closer inspection i notice a stylised bird. I learn that this is the Sankofa, a mythical bird from their culture that flies forward while looking backward, with an egg held in its mouth. The word Sankofa derives from the Akan people, a West African ethnic group that today resides in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The Akan, over centuries, developed a highly artistic and communicative system of ideographic and pictographic symbols, each representing a specific concept, proverb or saying rooted in the Akan experience. These symbols can be found used extensively in indigenous textiles, metal and wood work, jewellery and architecture, too. The older African religions had no sacred texts. Their beliefs were handed down mostly orally through proverbs and stories or through pictorial symbols. A proverb from which the co...

By Dana Dratch • Bankrate.com Highlights •Make your resolution something you want, not what other people want. •Create a realistic action plan to fulfill your New Year's resolution. •Have someone hold you accountable for sticking to your New Year's goals. With the start of a new decade, let's make sure you stick to those New Year's resolutions. If your New Year's resolutions from last year have gone unresolved, you're not alone. Now a new year offers another opportunity to achieve your goals, and these nine tips should help you keep to your New Year's resolutions. 1. Make it something you really want. Don't make it a resolution that you "should" want or what other people tell you to want. It has to fit with your own values. "Put some thought into it," says Richard O'Connor, Ph.D., author of "Happy at Last: The Thinking Person's Guide to Finding Joy." And avoid knee-jerk New Year's resolutions, he sa...

On United Nations Day, I express my great appreciation to the millions of people throughout the world who believe deeply in our work for peace, development and human rights… and who uphold our ideals and help us achieve our goals. To all of you… friends and fellow citizens of the world… I say: thank you. Sixty-five years ago on this date, the founding Charter of the United Nations entered into force. Every year on UN Day, we reaffirm our global mission. We reassert the universal values of tolerance, mutual respect and human dignity. And we recognize the progress we have made together: gains in literacy and life expectancy… the spread of knowledge and technology... advances in democracy and the rule of law. But above all, UN Day is a day on which we resolve to do more. More to protect those caught up in armed conflict, to fight climate change and avert nuclear catastrophe; more to expand opportunities for women and girls, and to combat injustice and impunity; more to meet the Mille...