Shilpa Roy Kota

Teaching history to a seven year old can be a daunting task because you have to extremely careful of what impressions you are leaving on their clean, untouched  mind. Let me take an example to explain. History Books says: We celebrate Independence day on 15th August each year. This is the day that India got Independence from the British rule. Teacher explains: Britishers were extremely bad people who robbed our country for many years. Indians fought the battle for Independence and finally threw them out of the country on 15th August, 1947. Seven year old at home: What does Independence mean? Who were Britishers?  Mom: Britishers came from a country called Britain…

It is Childrens Day today and many adults are reminding each other of the good old childhood days and how they wish they would come back. To me, this sentiment is amusing, as I would never wish those days back. The biggest, foremost reason for not going back into childhood – my only one wish as a child was “To Grow Up!!”. I am an adult now – intelligent, beautiful, rich, and blessed (some may not agree with me on some or all of these, but it doesn’t matter. I still think I am all of these.) All my childhood, I prayed to become big, so that I could make…

This question has been popping up so often in my conversations with others lately, that it sooner or later had to pop up in my blog as well. Be it work, play or personal chores, we do so many things daily, just because we know we have to do them. We no longer question their need or the way we do them. How we wake up, attend to natures call, drink our tea, send children to school, are all activities that don’t, any longer, need us to use our intellectual self. We just do them, without asking – Why am I doing this, or could there be a better way…

Just completed a great book about a prophet who is guided by the voice of angels. These angels used to bring him the word from The Lord and ordered him to carry it out. After doing so for years, he develops a close bond with The Lord and is considered one of the Lords favorite prophets. However, in the process, he loses everything that he had ever loved including his job, his respect and his country. Finally one day, in an attempt to carry out the orders of The Lord, he even loses his lady love.  His faith by now has become the source of immense pain for him and he refuses…

Pouring rain and strong winds lashed the city yesterday night. The power grid withstood these forces bravely for some hours and then gave in. As the city plunged into darkness, people retreated into their homes and the Sunday night revelry seemed to have ended sooner than expected.  As I lay in bed surrounded by the shadows, I tried to listen to the deepest sounds of the night. After the fury of the storm had passed, the night was exceptionally silent. To add to natures silence, all man made machines slept silently without any electricity to keep them humming through the night. The silence was so deep, that I could distinctly hear someone…

We all make choices about how we want to live. No choice is right or wrong, good or bad, leading us towards success or failure. It is all about what we want to do and how we want to live. Some of us live each moment fully as it might be the last we have. We live our lives slowly – soaking, pondering over thoughts, emotions, actions, dreams, ideas and people. For us, it is important to look behind the scenes, to discover secrets which no one has, to questions why things are so, and question what if things were different.  Some others don’t worry about each small or big…

Today evening, I was out for a walk with my music and the wonderful breeze. As I walked along the familiar road, I had beautiful songs playing in my ears and in my heart. On this road, I could have even walked with my eyes closed as I know every nook, bend and bump like the back of my hand. As I crossed a dark patch of road, hidden secretly between two ill placed streetlights, I was suddenly taken aback by the sound of feet running towards me. In front of me, I could make out shadows growing rapidly closer to me, approaching me from behind. I was no doubt…

After lying in bed for two days, I was sick and tired of feeling sick. Sometime late in the evening I forced myself out of bed and decided to take Toyna for a drive. When we started, I was still low but had this determination to make up to my darling for ignoring her for so many days. The instant we drove out into the roads on our scooter, the breeze caught my hair and Toynas’ small hands came around my back to hold me close. The roads were bumpy, the traffic loud and smoky; but she didn’t complain. In fact the bumpier the road the more fun it was on the…