Hari participated in two competitions today and won 1st in Tamil and 2nd in Sanskrit recitation. Okay, I just can't stop peethifying about this to all and sundry - pandal pottu, serial set vechu, mikela thaan innum sollavillai :-) Now to the topic. Competitions are one more thing that I have missed during my stay away from Madras. Till I left college, every recitation and oratorical competition conducted in the city in sanskrit had me participating and almost always bagging a prize too. On one hand, I was relieved to know that I don't need to go thro' the tension of standing before a frowning judge. On the other hand, I feel the same tension because it was my son who had to stand before the judge. When I was standing outside I got a chance to observe the OE parents walking up and down the school premises, giving pep talks to their kids, last minute revisions and ofcourse the thayirsaadam dubbas :-) The parents seemed more worried than the kids. Just as how I was more exci...
Not one morning passes by without Hari's polambals. He has to say atleast 23 times "I don't want to go school". These would be followed by lectures on 1. Its good for you 2. You don't want to be illiterate. Do you? 3. Don't you want to be a tech director like appa? 4. You have to do some work or the other to survive. etc.. etc.. My next strategy was - "you have to look after cows." I was stunned when he said ok. Thats where Bala came in and dropped the right sentence "looking after cows means cleaning cowdung too!!" "oops" That was something my 6 year old could not imagine. The bum-cleaning is mommy's job. How can he do that? Okay, Mom, lets make a deal. I will take care of the cows, but the cleaning part, why don't you do it as always? When that did not get any response from me, hari decided he will work at home like his mom. WOW! somebody wants to be like me! Thats something, coming from Hari who adores his dad! Now how ...
What is Bhakti? It can be generally translated as devotion and Webster gives 'religious fervour' as its meaning. Does this mean that atheists cannot have devotion? How can explain this to different people from different walks of life? Most of all, how can we explain this to children who are influenced by what their parents think? Theists - It is very easy to reach out to theists and say: devotion or bhakti is that belief that you have in God which directs certain actions (puja, prayers etc) in your everyday living. Atheists - One has to leave out God equation and explain devotion in terms of concentration on activities close to one's heart. Children - Now this is the tricky part. Children are always forever trying to assess what to take forward to their adult years. Some children don't want to believe in God because their parents don't believe and their acceptance is of utmost importance. Some children implicitly believe what their parents say. Yet others are skept...
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