Author: Manoj Kewalramani

Published by Virgin Leaf books

Price: Rs. 145

Deceit, doubt, divine and the delightful – What are fairy tales made up of? A new look at the soulful, shy, sophisticated, savant, sinister, scary, sinful characters we had read about in many of the fairy tales in our childhood. Little Red Riding Hood, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Puss in Boots, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Thumbelina, The Princess and the Pea, Rumpelstlitskin, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Pied Piper are some of the fairy tales chosen by the author.

Manoj has looked at the characters of some well-known fairy tales in today’s perspective. Why would a toad want to be a handsome prince if he is happy as he is? He doesn’t need some princess to redeem him from his frog-form. Be comfortable with what you are instead of trying to fit in the mould the world wants you to be seen in.

The princess and the pea where the bedraggled girl is crying hoarse that she is a princess because a pea kept under the several mattresses is poking her in the back. Well, girls! Most of the troubles in your life are the size of a pea. Face them squarely and they will be minuscule. Just stop crying over them!

There is nothing like eternal beauty. We all are going to turn old with the tide of time. Also beauty is what you are inside, not the physical form.  The queen better learn it instead of looking for answers in the mirror. A new Snow White is going to happen with time.

Puss In Boots is a Man Friday personified who would go to any depths to serve his master. Deceit is a way of life today, isn’t it?

A refreshing look at the characters from fairy tales woven into poetry makes us rethink as to what they could have been. The verse is sometimes cryptic that compels you to dwell upon it. A perspective of the ‘other’ character and what they would they want to tell or what could they have felt! Read the poems and read the original fairy tales and you might be surprised with the interpretation of the character.

No wonder the first page says:

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again”. C. S. Lewis

Come home from a hard day’s work in the evening, the first thing we do is switch on the light. Switch on the TV. Microwave the food to eat. Electricity… The main thread weaving through all these activities. What would we do without it?

Edison must have never imagined that his invention of public distribution of electricity would be so intertwined with all activities we do in life that we might as well be dead without it.

We shudder to think about life without electricity! We are not used to much of physical labour in the kitchen or out of it. No pounding or grinding of masalas, no need to saw the wood, you have electric saws. We cannot withstand the heat – we switch on the AC, have a cool drink with ice. We cannot withstand the winters – we switch on the heater, have hot soups. Entertainment means music on the i-pod, watching TV or going to a movie.

Uninterrupted power supply is sought for a premium. Consumers are prepared to pay more to the government as businesses depend on electricity. With connectivity throughout the world, offshore businesses consume all the more power as they are working round the clock.

Natural calamities like earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes disrupt power supply and the hardest hit is communication and water supply. Simple things like charging the mobile or getting food become difficult. No clean drinking water because there would be no way to pump it to our homes. Wonder what we would do without it!

Shocking! Shocking! Shocking!

Can we withstand it?

An amazing theme of a tamasha artist and the fallout of the choices he makes in life. The protagonist played by Atul Kulkarni has poignantly revealed the layers of a personality, his good and bad decisions and the heartache coupled with joys. Superb lyrics by Guru Thakur that bring out the essence of tamasha without being vulgar are very commendable. The music by Ajay – Atul brings forth the style of lavani and makes you hum along.

Ravi Jadhav has done a great job of showing the two sides of a coin. Leading a well-trodden life offers no challenges and one faces the day to day obstacles in life. That is what the protagonist does; he is a field labourer at the mercy of the farmer. His decision to start his own tamasha troupe brings him face to face with difficulties he never imagined. Such is his resolve that he is prepared to take up the role of a ‘nacha’ or ‘male dancer with feminine touch’ to popularize his tamasha troupe. His determination to pursue what he longed to do, alienate him away from his family. As a result, he is taken advantage of in ways he never thought possible. He is unfazed though heartbroken at the turn of events. He rises like the proverbial phoenix and resumes his journey to write better and better tamashas and bring this art-form to a respectable position.

Attention to detail is so in depth, where Atul has worked hard to develop a ‘six pack physique’ for the labourer’s role and loses it all when he essays the role of ‘nacha’. Cinematography is also well done with excellent lighting for night scenes. It’s the end that makes you feel that it finishes off abruptly.

This story can be transposed on anyone’s life that is faced with troubles when pursuing the bumpy path. There are two sides to a coin. One can never achieve what they want in life unless they are prepared to face adversities in life. To do something you like, you often have to accept things that you do not like more than what you bargained for. No wonder the movie is already winning awards!

Hey! Why is that so? Well! Most of the nutritional drink advertisements or health foods/ drinks that claim to provide all components of nutrition because ‘my little one just does not eat chapatti – rice’ are proliferating. Mothers and children getting swept into this new wave that could eventually help this industry to grow rapidly.

Plus there is no time to eat a leisurely square meal. People seem to be working all the time. Where is the time to chew food and eat it? Pop a pill. Swallow a button and there you are. The dentists are also going to go out of work. No teeth to maintain! Could it become a vestigial organ?

Maybe it is time to button up to the eventuality that a button meal could be a reality!

How long are we going to let children be surrounded by the ‘feel good’ factor? By the time they really need to cope up with the competition in this world where there are no exams to be given in a classroom, they are bewildered.

It is time to stop blaming the system. No education system can ever be foolproof. And why do we have a jaundiced eye of looking at exams as a means to an end of getting a job? How about the discipline and systematic organizational skills those are required to ‘study’? How many times have we shown them how to do things in a correct manner? Most of the times, children are simply bundled off for tuitions. Is the school so bad?

OK. Fine. Granted. The school is terrible, the teachers are not teaching properly. But are the books bad too? Can the child not read the book? Have we ever initiated the thought process that the shortcomings in the students are due to lack of concentration or sheer laziness in making an effort to understand?

How many times have we set a routine for ourselves? How many times is it that we pay our bills in time? Ensure a system where proper mealtimes are adhered to. Not indulge in gifts for the children to make up for lost time. All these may seem unconnected to the process of education. But to think of our whole lifestyle as a system, we are creating an environment where it is so easy to blame somebody else and ‘feel good’.

This is the role play the children are being exposed to. Not getting good grades? The teachers are bad… the tuition teacher is not paying enough attention. (I pay her / him a bomb to make sure my child studies!) We very often make excuses for their shortcoming unknowingly. It is so easy to blame the system … but who or what is the system? Have we done anything in implementing the system in a fruitful manner?

Let us steer our children onto the path of hard work, a disciplined life. Nothing will stop them from succeeding in whatever they wish to do or have to do.  …. And we have to make the beginning by following that path!!!!!!!!!!!!

‘3 Idiots’ ….. “Shikshanachya Aaaicha gho’… Its all about choices ……… and not of what our children want to do but what parents wish them to do!

True. In today’s competitive lifestyle, parents are trying to get their children to do what will earn them a good living.

But….. Are we not forgetting that even if the child is given a choice to do what he/she wants to do, they need to work hard to achieve it? How many times are we as parents, teachers, grandparents, society setting an example of hard work in the right direction? At the end of the day one has to strive to achieve success in chosen field.

To become an actor, one needs to be a disciplined person, have patience and have in-depth understanding of different body languages and nuances of different personalities, learn voice control, be an avid reader, be good at observation of situations….. and many more things to learn. To be great cricketer, you need to develop stamina, physical prowess, practice stringently, and lead a restricted life….. maybe no parties and late nights.

Are we not forgetting that when we initiate the thought process that children should be allowed to take up what they like to do as a career, we also need to guide them in the right way to achieve it? Unless one achieves a certain level of prowess in their chosen field, they will not be able to realize their dreams. To achieve satisfaction in your chosen field you need to be disciplined and work hard too.

If our children are motivated to learn and not cram knowledge, they would be successful in any field they wish to take up. But for this, a sustained effort in the form of memorizing, writing, solving problems and other related methods is necessary. These are the tools required to work hard.

It is all very fine to say that children should be allowed to take up their choice of career and so on. But are we providing them the right tools to deal with the difficulties that they will certainly face in their chosen field? Are we mistaking the wood for the trees?

By the time I was twelve years, I knew how to study each subject. I could study ‘on my own’. (That is about fort years back.) In those times, taking tuition was considered below dignity and a matter of shame.

Whatever effort my mother put in to make me aware (without my knowing) to learn the art of studying, enjoy it without making it a burden in most of the cases. Anything you did not understand, you read a number of times and discussed with your parent, teacher or even a friend. We were taught to find a way.

It is no wonder that today’s generation finds it intimidating to find their way through the maze of daily homework. They are constantly ‘taught’. Either in school or by their ‘tuition teacher’. Where is the time to learn?

Most parents are educated enough to guide their wards. Investing time is what is necessary. But lack of awareness among parents and the will to discipline their own lifestyles and motivate their children through their presence is the main hurdle.

Hopefully, as a society, we will change and the coming generations will pace their lives to something where they have time to reflect and ‘Wait and Watch” at some ‘Leisure” at least.

This Rama lives in a big city. Her parents are working. She goes to school in a bus. She has a pretty lunch box and wafers and biscuits and chocolates in case she is hungry. Back from school, she is taken by the ‘ayah’ to a tuition teacher. Hey! Homework done. Then to a dance class. Then to the ‘abacus’ class. Back home. Dinner. TV. Hopefully, by then, parents are home. Both are too tired to talk. Yet both make an effort to ask how she spent the day.

Both situations are poignantly similar. The parents have no time to interact and be there for their children. The fast city life and poverty of village life has destroyed family lifestyles.

Not very long ago, be it a parent from a village or city, they were just around their family members. There was a rhythm to life. Regardless of monetary status, values were handed down from parent to child by mere observation. No intrusion of TV which is the biggest monster that has invaded homes and family members are simply glued to the make-believe world. Grandmothers have no inclination to narrate stories… saas-bahu serials are far more intriguing. Reading together or praying together is mostly a thing of the past. Family meals are redundant. Can we blame the next generation for falling into the abyss of desolation….. ending their precious life.

They wonder what they should live for!

Right! I went to the cabinet top to look for the appropriate remote! Well! Well! Well!

Now how do I get the right remote? There is one for the music system. There is one for the AC, then another for the lights,…… I did not want to look further. Was there a remote chance that I could get the right remote?

This little gadget that fits in the palm is slowly taking over our lives. There is one for the front door, one for the burglar alarm, you name it. Your mobile also doubles up as a remote, what with blue tooth technology…………

The chances of you doing anything ‘one to one’ are remote. Your post-teenage child texts you through the remote messaging system,  ….. ‘not home for dinner, out with friends’ where is the scope for a good holler at your offspring for keeping out so late? You are in a meeting and the message flashes that guests are coming for dinner…..husband dear! Well! Shopping on the way home…. Remote chance of husband remembering to get something on the way home.

Ah! Finally found the right remote. Let me now settle down for some good movie…. By remote chance my favourite one might be screened…..

Disposal of solid wastes requires segregation at source and specific disposal that is disregarded in India. Ragpickers are a major tool organized in segregation of garbage. Much of the recyclable wastes are salvaged and the rest are disposed by landfilling methods. Organic wastes can be effectively used for composting if segregation is done through color-coded bags at source. A large-scale operation undertaken in New Delhi, dealing with municipal market wastes has shown it possible to generate 150 to 250 liters of methane/kg of total solid feeds (leaves stalks of radish, cauliflower, banana damaged wheat grain, pea-shells etc) and reduce pollution load by 70 to 80%. Methane can be used as energy source and the remains as land fill.

Bio-medical wastes generated during diagnosis, treatment, immunization or research activities pose a great risk of contamination through waste-handlers, scavengers and off-loading through common garbage. The notification of Bio-medical Waste (Handling and Management) Rules 1998 has prompted hospitals to segregate wastes at source in color-coded bags/containers. The sharps need to be crushed adequately, the fluid wastes have to be treated appropriately, and onsite disinfection like autoclaving or microwaving needs to be done. Incineration of soiled bandages, blood tissue, placenta, discarded medicine needs to be done judiciously as it spews out hazardous fumes and the ash could be tainted with heavy metals and other toxic residues.

The dying vulture is a clear warning to dispose waste with care, as they are the final frontiers of recycling matter. Urbanization has lead to complicated waste matter, as well as the quantity keeps increasing with affluence. Anthropogenic waste is unnatural as its durability deters degradation. Careful planning and execution will enable wastes to be disposed by recycling—the most ‘ecological’ way to manage waste.

Amongst the sensory organs, the taste buds are the least thought about! But give them bland food and they will protest! No cooking is palatable without spices. Apart from pepping up the food, they have numerous medicinal properties that aid in keeping fit.

Vedic literature contains description of many medicinal properties of spices. It is said that the secret of good health of the labourers who worked at constructing the pyramids lay in a staple diet of onions and garlic that are supposed to have provided protection against a variety of diseases. Some of the commonly used spices have medicinal properties that we are not aware of!

1. Digestive Stimulant Action: Ingredients like ginger, mint, ajwain, garlic are used for pharmaceutical preparations. Ginger and mint have shown to stimulate pancreatic digestive enzymes that are lipase, amylase, chymotrypsin, which aid in digestion. Bile acids are necessary for digestion of fats and its absorption. The coloring principle of turmeric called curcumin, mustard, onion, fenugreek, mustard are some of the ingredients besides ginger that stimulate bile acid production by the liver.
2. Antioxidant property: Reactive oxygen radicals have known to be one of the root causes in genetic damage. They act at the cellular level and can cause damage to the normal action of the cells. Curcumin, the yellow ingredients of turmeric, cloves and red pepper have demonstrated beneficial anti-oxidant properties. Garlic and asafoetida too have proved to be favorable.
3. Anticarcinogenic properties: Animal studies involving experimental induction of tumors have shown its reduction with the use of turmeric garlic and asafoetida.
4. Anti-arthritic property: Cloves, turmeric are some potential spices useful in lowering the incidence of arthritis. They have also known to delay the onset of arthritis.
5. Anti-bacterial property: Turmeric is well known for its anti-microbial property. People have been using turmeric to treat cuts and wounds even today. Asafoetida is another well known anti-bacterial agent. It also aids in counter-acting intestinal flatulence. The sulfur containing compounds of garlic and onion too inhibit growth of pathogenic fungi and bacteria. The volatile component of certain spices like nutmeg, saffron, cumin too could be useful as anti-microbial agents.

The many promising beneficial properties of naturally occurring spices are making them a hot favorite for future research. Probably, if we are able to decipher the ancient Vedic literature, we could find many answers.

Hey! Wasn’t that Siddharth, and that  was Radhika, Shruti….Of course I remember her pretty pink frock when she was tiny tot…… all of them looking so grown up….after so many years! These little kids had grown up and were unrecognizable. All these children lived, fought and played together as toddlers. It was great to see all our course mates taking time from their busy schedules to attend their “daughter’s” wedding. They came from everywhere, Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam, New Delhi, Mumbai……. The warmth and camarardie   developed about a good twenty odd years back was as fresh as ever. It was heartwarming and touching to see our big ‘naval family’ at my daughter’s wedding.

Looking back, it seems as if it was not very long back that I was swept into a territory that was a bit unfamiliar. Newly married and no home to stay! Well! Said my husband, a course mate has lent me his house to stay. It was unbelievable that someone would let a stranger into their home to stay. But that was the trust that one had in each other. With shortage of houses in the navy, it was not uncommon to find families staying together as one family. The bonds that forged during such time are as strong as ever. As our families grew, we looked after each other’s children as our own; not hesitating to pull up whichever child erred. Ours or theirs. It did not matter.

Those days there were no diversions such as TV and going out to eat was a luxury not really affordable. The fleet sailing out in Mumbai meant hundreds of wives who stayed alone. But never lonely. We would all hang out talking till late evening and end up having pot luck at a shipmates’ place. That was the time when recipes were shared, new crafts learnt as not many wives worked.

The navy, being smaller with fewer places where one got transferred; one always found some familiar faces at each posting. Being posted in bigger cities, it was possible to pick up a teacher’s job. Packing, living out of suitcases, adjusting to a new place, taught how to improvise in difficult situations. One never felt short of anything. It was great for the kids who learnt to live in absolutely cramped up places to large bungalows. They learnt to accept several things with equanimity.

I still remember, the compulsory parties about which everyone cribbed. The kids would be thrilled, as it meant a special meal when mom and dad go for a party. Now I realize how important that was! The compulsory parties made us get out of the house and learn to speak to people, interact with them, learn about our neighbours whom we would otherwise not meet maybe! It was so necessary as in times of crisis, especially when the husbands would be away, it is these people who would come to our rescue in need. So, if you did not know people around you, it would not be easy to help or ask for help. Also, it made our children independent. Staying without parents for short spells of time taught them a bit of responsibility.

There were no telephones at home about 15 years back. The only one who had a telephone was the Commanding Officer. So, when the fleet sailed out, there was no communication as to where they were. For us, the aircrafts taking off over Navy Nagar was a sign that the fleet had sailed out. Their return over the skies of Navy Nagar was an indication that the fleet had returned from the sortie.  I remember, once two ships had sailed out on a goodwill visit to South Africa. The first official visit from India to South Africa since a number of years. As per the schedule, the ships were supposed to reach in December. Then in end November, we read in the newspapers that both the ships were busy rescuing fishing boats during the storms off the coast. And we were imagining them sailing merrily to South Africa.

But they did reach South Africa and came back safe and sound. We thoroughly enjoyed the pictures of South Africa but more so the ceremonies that were held during crossing the equator. Apparently, if you bathe in the ocean as you are crossing the equator, no sea creature will mistake you for its food! Sailors dressed as King Varuna, doling out punishments to all was hilarious.

‘Family Day’ was an event that we all looked forward to as that was one day when we could all go sailing on the ship. Held sometime in the month of December, the kids would have a great time to see al the maneuvers done by the ships.

Welfare work or community service in the form of NWWA was a learning ground by itself. We learnt to give back to the community that gave a roof over our heads and food on the table. Managing and organization skills, handling interpersonal relationships as well as entertaining skills…… one learnt everything.

Living now as a civilian, I do not miss the life in the Navy but I feel it has made be better equipped to deal with the life outside services. It is great to have had the best of both the worlds. It is now I realize the kind of facilities we enjoyed as well as our children. Any kind of sport was available to them, right from swimming, horse-riding, tennis, library facilities and so on. The security, safety and friendliness that one took for granted was something one learnt unknowingly as a part of the community. Living alone with the children for long spells of time, packing, unpacking, adjusting to a new house and school……… it was like starting afresh each time. But for all its hardships and trials, we had a whale of a time!