God exists..

There are multiple times when I send out silent prayers to god and marvel at how they get answered...

Today was one such day.

My college going son called up in the afternoon to say that he needed to submit an assignment and he had forgotten to take it to college. ' Can you please check out my cupboard and keep it ready.. I will come home in the next ten minutes, pick it back and rush back to college'. And so I searched for his assignment papers but could not find it. When he reached home, both of us searched once again but could not find it. He had to rush back to college to give a presentation; so I told him I would continue to search for the assignment.  I searched high and low but could not find the papers and silently  sent out a prayer to god.

Half an hour later, as I sat at my laptop; I received a call from my mobile operator to check whether I had made a payment on my bill that was due. I said I had given a check on the previous day to the person they sent to pick it up. The caller asked me if I could give him the receipt number. The receipt was in my bag and as I took out the receipt, I happened to see the book I had carried to office on the previous day. To my surprise, the assignment papers were in the book. Probably, yesterday when carrying the book to office I had not realized that the papers were in there.

I gave the receipt number and closed the call and once again checked the assignment papers. All of them were very much there. I called up my son and told him about the papers. Had it not been for the call from the mobile operator, I would not have thought of checking in my bag for the assignment papers. 

I marveled at how God had answered my prayers. 


There have been multiple times, when I have had this feeling that God had helped me out. That somebody was watching over me and helping me.There have been times, when in my mind I am searching for answers and those answers come to me in the form of a conversation with somebody, or through something I see on television or something I read . 


And there are also times when I want things to go a certain way, but they are delayed or don't happen the way I want them to happen. Often enough, I have realized when things don't turn out the way I wanted them to happen it is because it was not right for me in the first place - that; I was meant to take a different path(most times, a higher path without narrow or petty considerations). There is a lesson in it for me to learn. 


And so I accept his will.. It teaches me acceptance and helps face the highs and lows of life with balance and equanimity.

Green and Sustainability

In recent times, Green and  Sustainability have become corporate buzzwords. Organizations take great pride and interest in aligning to such strategies. But, I often think Green and Sustainability have to become a philosophy that we once again must adopt to.

I say once again, because in earlier times people led simple lives where environment conservation was part of the lifestyle.

When I was a young child, my grandparents encouraged us to write on black slates and practice the newly learnt alphabets and numbers. When I started going to school I saw the other children write on notebooks. I did not like writing on slate since I thought it was unfashionable. Today we are told to save paper - this in turn would help in saving the trees. I realize how effective slates were in keeping the environment green.

Milk was delivered in glass bottles and cloth or jute bags were used to carry the items purchased from the market. Today, even a little bit of effort on our part could help in saving tons of plastic usage. And yet most of us do not bother to make that additional effort.


In earlier times, Banana leaves were used to lay a good meal. Marriages where hundreds of people would eat were served on well stitched leaf plates. However, today eating out of leaf plates  would be considered de'classe; so what if it helps to save a lot of water - who cares ?


Clothes, Textbooks used by the elder siblings were passed down to the younger ones. Unused papers from notebooks were stitched to make good rough working notebooks. This was considered a sign of prudence and not lack of money. People mainly used public transport. Taxis, autos were rarely used and only the very rich indulged in cars. Today having a car is considered a necessity. The roads are full of traffic, Fuel prices are continuously increasing and the environment is polluted. To counter that, everybody is trying to promote car pooling!!

Earlier, Indians believed in simple living and high thinking. This meant minimalistic living, careful utilization of resources, preserving things for the long term along. We believed in spending on what was really important.

In today's times, we believe in having an entire wardrobe of branded clothes, shoes, watches. We get quickly tired of using the same things and don't believe in using any of them for the long term. We buy things which help in establishing our status symbol. And to meet our growing needs(or is it greed ?) we even take loans.

And then we champion for green and sustainability...

Perhaps our forefathers were far ahead of us in terms of sustainability and also sensibility!!