Anuradha Sridharan

  Over the last few weeks, I have been following the political news more closely, thanks to the Lok Sabha election results. One of the tweets I came across on X said something on these lines -  "Politicians and political parties deliberately want people to remain poor so that they are dependent on freebies and vote promises." As I thought about this statement, I realized this strategy is equally relevant to the self-proclaimed gurus who have mushroomed on social media on various topics. They would want their followers to blindly follow what they convey through their posts/workshops/courses and remain poor in their intellectual abilities. As long as their followers remain intellectually poor, these false gurus can keep offering one course after another, minting money, and generating multiple revenue streams. How do they ensure their followers fall for the tricks in their playbook? Here are a few observations: Groupthink - Ensure more praises are sung by certain "loyal...

  Perspectives are a person's point of view that one has gathered based on their limited understanding of the world through their beliefs, perceptions, knowledge, and experiences. What works for one person MAY NOT work for another. Whenever you gather perspectives (be it from me or any person), take them as inputs but critically evaluate them for yourself. Pre-requisites for homeschooling: (1) Homeschooling a child is an  important  decision to be made by both the father and mother together. It is NOT a decision made by one spouse because of the perspectives that he/she received from Instagram influencers. (2) It is a  long-term  decision (not for the next few weeks or the next few months, but for the next 12-14 years) which involves multiple changes and uncertainties. (3) It is a decision being made on  behalf  of the child, who is not yet mature enough to understand the pros and cons of it. (4) It requires one of the parents (typically, the mother) t...

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...

A trip to Blossoms allows me to stumble upon some gems of books that I wouldn't have normally known. One such impulse purchase was Swami Rama's Love and Family Life - a secondhand copy for Rs.90. Having loved some of his other books, I picked this one without much thought. In this book, he shares his perspectives on companionship, marriage, children, and the role of a family in shaping society. This book was written in 1992 and based on the examples, I presume it was written with a Western audience in mind. But most of the challenges and issues presented are very much applicable in modern India of today. He first brings up the importance of a family and how it helps children learn the qualities of being caring, open, accepting, and selfless. He then explains how the institution of marriage helps one to evolve spiritually. The couple entering this phase gets an opportunity to learn and practice essential qualities needed to live with others - truthfulness, sincerity, faithfulne...

 Over the past few days, I have been grappling with this thought of "being influenced" and the factors that lead us in that direction. In our parent's times (80s and 90s), it was television and advertisements that played a huge role in shaping their thoughts and decisions. In our present times, it is social media and the so-called influencers. While reading "Wisdom Bridge" a few weeks back, the author spoke about how there is more involvement and more intensity in today's parents because of a lack of access to the "village" (a.k.a family support) and wisdom that used to flow serenely from one generation to another. " Prepare is the new care " => He laid forth this apt statement. It is not only the preparation of our children for better opportunities and skills. It also means preparation undertaken by parents ourselves, so we feel equipped with the "right" knowledge. Fair intentions certainly, BUT have we evaluated our approac...

 I remember this incident vividly. I think I was around 13-14 years old. My dad casually remarked, "Look at your cousin. She already has learned to cook and contributes to household work. When will you start learning this stuff? You are always playing outside". Though his intention wasn't to hurt me, that comment did hurt deeply. From childhood, I don't like to be compared with anyone. Since I was doing well in my studies, the comparison was always on other aspects - dressing up, cooking, contributing to household chores, etc. Since I knew the hurtful capacity of comparisons, I have been very careful not to compare D with anyone - either in my words or in my thoughts. In our parents' generation, comparisons were limited to our classmates, neighbors, cousins, or siblings. But in today's social media age, we are comparing our children to kids of parenting influencers and random strangers. Even if we don't verbalize it in front of our kids, we make comparison...

 A few years back, I read " The Heartfulness Way " and "Designing Destiny" by Daaji. Both were so insightful, especially the former. When I stumbled upon "The Wisdom Bridge", a book on parenting written by the same author, I was intrigued. It has been a fabulous read and didn't feel heavy for a 290-page book. It is written with such heart-felt experiences and insights that are extremely relatable. There are no SHOULDs and SHOULD-NOTs in a heavy, preachy tone. Rather, the tone of the book is a gentle nudge for parents to introspect various aspects of raising a child. Books that have a well-defined structure and flow are always pleasant to read. This book is organized into nine principles that are relevant to parenting in today's times. Whether you are a parent-to-be, new parent, or parents of teens, you'll find topics of relevance. I wish I had got hold of this book a decade ago, as many challenges I was grappling with could have been handled wi...

 When we visited a temple recently, we were about to walk around the "navagrahas" and D asked this question: D: "Shouldn't we do 8 rounds since Pluto is no longer a planet?" Me: "No, we will do 9 rounds. I'll explain why" After our temple visit, while driving back home, I explained to her how the "navagrahas" are not 9 planets, how they correlate with the days of the week, why there is no Neptune/Uranus equivalent in "navagrahas", what is Rahu/Ketu, etc. K then told her the story behind Rahu and Ketu. After a few minutes, D said, "I think you both are also my grandparents as you are the ones telling me all these stories. I never heard them from my grandparents. I read in a book that grandparents tell such mythological stories". I was a bit taken aback since those were the thoughts running through my mind for the past many years. I'm currently reading Daaji's "The wisdom bridge". Fabulous read so far, ...