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Give them memories
Who is your Role Model? Think of someone you know or knew personally, not a public figure. For how many of you is that a parent or a teacher? If I asked your children the same question, what do you think they would say? Who would they be thinking of you? How do you know?…
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Two mysteries – Teaching and Parenting
Our present methods of teaching which are inflicted on by far the vast majority of children the world over are the single biggest cause for killing the imagination that every child is born with and making them into square blocks which fit our own frightened, constrained and slavish worldview. Those who comply we ‘pass’ and…
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Wah! Taj
Chacha, did you hear what I said? What did you say Sangeet Som beta? I said that Shah Jahan was a traitor and an enemy of Hindus who wanted to wipe them out and that the Taj Mahal is a blot on Indian culture. Shabaash! Kya baat hai! Teri tho jai ho! But tell me,…
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Where are we headed?
You may have seen the famous documentary, Four Horsemen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbvquHSPJU In this film is this quote: When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of people living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. ~…
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Why did Hyderabad die?
The Hyderabad Public School where I studied. A symbol of the Nizam of Hyderabad This is not a history but an attempt to understand what probably happened in those last years that led to the demise of Hyderabad as an independent country and its annexation by the newly independent India. It is speculation; perhaps informed…
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Which way to go?
There is a beautiful teaching story from Korea of a Zen master and his disciple. The master took him to the bank of a stream that flowed between rocks. There he made a small paper boat and floated it on the water. He told his disciple to follow the boat and report back to him…
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Give a dog a bad name…
I want to begin with a brief thumbnail view of global geopolitics since the collapse of the Soviet Union under President Gorbachev. This was an event that was widely applauded and rejoiced, including by Muslims worldwide. Little did they realize what it would lead to. For a military state, an economy based on war, an…
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Become a villager
I submit to you that we need to see the term, ‘Global village’, not as a statement of what we are but of what we need to become. We must become a ‘Global village’, not because of technology but because of caring and compassion and mutual appreciation and respect. Being a villager is not about…
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Arsonist or Fire Fighter
This world is a coin. It has two faces. Both joined together but both different; often the opposite of one another. I am speaking about social media, the coin which on one side has convenience, communication and companionship and on the other, lies, ignorance and hatred. Both made possible by technology which like all technology…
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It’s not my fault
Emotional maturity is the process whereby we break the cycle of infancy and accept the fact that we are adults. Not just physically but mentally and emotionally. This means that we accept responsibility for ourselves and our well-being as well as the responsibility for those whose lives we touch. We are aware of our strengths…