Anuradha Sridharan

 There is a tug-of-war happening big time on social media and all mass media platforms. This war is called "polarized views". If you aren't strong enough, any side can easily pull you and convince you to accept and follow their polarized viewpoints. I see this happening virtually in all aspects of life. A few examples from the domains I keep track of: Vegan OR Keto Naturopathy OR modern medicine V@ccine OR No V@ccine Homeschooling OR International School + All possible extracurricular classes Home-made foods from scratch OR Eat packaged foods Traditional OR Modern Values No Fridge OR Frozen meals for months No Screen time for kids OR Full-on screen mode filled with educational apps and games Completely organic food OR food from a factory/large-scale manufacturing unit Is it because we spend too much time with devices and gadgets that there is now an alarming trend of viewing the world in binaries? Computers can understand only 1s and 0s, whereas we humans are smarter than...

We visited a petting park in Yelagiri last weekend. There was a fenced area, inside which were two big goats lying down relaxed. As we walked towards this place, we noticed two cute baby goats happily grazing outside. The mommy goat noticed us (Me and D) walking towards her babies. She lifted her neck and started making loud sounds. Soon she noticed K who was behind us. She got even more cautious. She stood firmly and made warning sounds that we interpreted as "Hey you! Don't you dare come near my babies!!".  We didn't touch her babies or try to hold them but the fact that we were coming near them made the mommy instinctively become very alert. The babies found a small gap in the fence and they went back to their mommy. She then gave them an earful for roaming freely (or that's what we understood seeing her reaction!! ) 😁😁😁 We have observed the same behavior with the mommy of our kitty babies 3 years back. She would let us lift her infants but she would be rest...

This conversation happened a few weeks back. D: Why don't you read fiction books, mummy? You are always reading serious books. Me: I generally don't like to read fiction. D: Whyyyy? Me: My mom told me many times when I was a child that reading story books is a waste of time. She would only buy me General knowledge books. I never read any storybooks during childhood, except for a few Tinkle comics that I would buy at the railway station while going on trips.  D: If she was alive, I could have explained to her why reading story books is so good. You can connect with the characters, you can feel happy or sad with them. There is suspense. You will also laugh at the jokes. Me: I experienced it when I read Harry Potter, Ruskin Bond books, and a few others in my 20s. But my mind automatically gravitates towards non-fiction. She came back after a few hours, holding the Kindle in her hands. D: Let us do one thing. You always tell me to try reading more text-based books instead of comic...

 Have you ever prepared a vision board - the one where we paste colorful pictures, motivational quotes, and stickers that represent your wishes, desires, and goals for the future? I have made a couple of them in the past but not with conviction. I don't believe in the idea of creating vision boards.  When I researched the origins of vision boards, I learned that they became popular around the time the book "The Secret" was released in 2006. I see 3 problems with vision boards. 1. As we prepare a vision board, the focus is exclusively on the material desires and goals. There is no thought (or a placeholder on the vision board) being given to the principles, ethics, and values that we would uphold as we pursue these goals. 2. Creating the board indicates a target towards the end goal but what about the journey to get to the goal? How do we enjoy the journey? How do we overcome the obstacles on the way? None of that is being documented on the board. A few motivational quotes...

 In Dec 2023, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the Gita Parayanam event organized by my IIMB Professor Shri. B Mahadevan as part of the Gita Jayanti event. Though I knew only a few Gita shlokas, I participated along with the crowd and chanted the entire Gita. The energy of the event felt so divine and blissful. As a Yajna Prasada, all participants got a copy of his book that was launched on the very same day - "Timeless Gita, Endless Bliss - Vol 2". K had bought and read the first volume many years back. It was now my turn to pick it up. Having read many self-help and philosophy books written by new-age authors in the past few years, the realization dawned on me that this one single book called Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is enough as a life manual to answer all our questions on life and how to approach various challenges and obstacles that we might encounter. Professor Mahadevan's book - Timeless Gita, Endless Bliss is an interesting teaser that provides a captiva...

 What's the objective of human existence? Many of us ponder over this question when we get some quiet time in the mornings, when we go for a solitary walk without any distractions, or when we are stuck in traffic after a long day at work🙂 Whether we realize it or not, the objective that we all aspire towards is spiritual evolution. Being blessed with a life where we are born as a human gives us the special privilege of striving towards this objective. An important caveat here is that one may not get the mental bandwidth to even think about such an objective if one is struggling with his/her basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) or one doesn't feel a sense of security. Having thoughts or questions on the purpose of human existence implies that there is a seeking beyond the mundane. This journey from being a human to a spiritually evolved human (point A to point B) is a long journey and it has to be undertaken by the individual alone. It is not a group yatra . It is solely an in...

This happened during the ICC Men's World Cup 2023. K and I used to watch the matches with Tamil commentary in our home. This telecast didn't show any product ads, except for Disney Hotstar movies/series-specific ads. The semi-final matches were telecasted on a big screen in the community hall. We went there one afternoon and watched a few overs with English commentary. There were way too many ads though we weren't paying much attention to them. After spending some time there, we decided to go back to our apartment.  As we were walking back, we both uttered this sentence at the same time, " How about we order some samosas? It's been a long time! ". There was an ad for a paint brand (I guess) that showed a plate of samosas. Our minds didn't register the product or the brand name, but were more focused on the samosas that looked so delicious!😉 We ended up ordering samosas and enjoyed them that evening. I remember when we used to watch Masterchef Australia ep...

 I never studied Hindi as a subject during school as Hindi wasn't included in my state board syllabus. I used to go to a small matriculation school during my initial primary school years where I got exposure to the basics of the Hindi alphabets. In 9th grade, I had shifted to a new school and one of my new friends there mentioned that she was going to give her Visharad exam. After enquiring with her, I understood that there is something called Hindi Prachar Sabha and they have these 8 levels of exams. This has nothing to do with the school curriculum and she was pursuing it out of her interest. My dad or anyone else never pushed me to learn Hindi. But I wanted to learn, as I was inspired by my friend (who I had considered my competition too!). I don't remember how, but I stumbled upon a Hindi class conducted in the morning hours on the veranda of a nearby school. An elderly person whom we used to address as "Ram Ram Sir" was our teacher. Classes would happen between 7...

 The last few weeks were a little overwhelming as I had back-to-back offline and online classes. Lots of new information to digest, absorb, and assimilate. Though I was convincing myself that I didn't need to take any pressure, there were times when my mind was racing with too much to do and process with the overload of information coming my way. Even if we try and calm ourselves down, we somehow end up absorbing the pressure of a group without our awareness. During the times before WhatsApp, we don't get to see/feel/experience the thoughts of a large group, especially if everyone has different expectations towards a course/degree. When we add something new - a new project, a new pursuit, a new initiative, etc, it is required that we reassess all the existing priorities and analyze how to fit in the new. This might require deprioritizing certain efforts, reallocating resources, or dropping certain pursuits. In today's times when there are so many new opportunities and ideas...