'Look to the Hills..'

The hospital and college campuses of the Christian Medical College, Vellore  have hills in their background. 

It is to the 'Hills from where our help come', we are reminded to look to by the Psalm writer!

It is a symbolic invitation to build a faith community, whose inward direction is towards God, and whose mission is to bring abundance of life to all!

I paused at this sight almost everyday during my years at CMC Vellore. I had this view from the landing space of the first flight of stairs, while climbing to go the department where I worked!

Each day the sight was different because, mist, humidity, cloud, fog, etc changed the details!

As I look back, I remember this Biblical verse coming back to me with a refreshing appeal every day!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

    

New designs!

One of the sights that is common in the landscape of Kerala is the new designs which the old church buildings receive! So much so, one of the Archbishops of the Catholic church recently wondered whether the Christian community ought to be extravagant in building large edifices for their worship and gatherings! 

Between our home and the MOSC hospital in that 20 kilometres distance, we noticed about fifty new houses built during the last four years! All of them have a 'designer' look. They look phenomenally spacious and elaborate!

I wonder, whether culturally people in Kerala are carried by an instinct to give visibility to whatever they build rather than prune it to the needs!

M.C.Mathew( text and photo) 

Continuity and consolidation!

Dr. Alfred Job Daniel finished his term of office as the Principal of CMC Vellore a week ago after providing five years of commendable leadership to the institution. He is remembered for his several contributions-  starting new training programmes, building infrastructure and facilities, planning and responding to the needs of increased number of students in undergraduate and post graduate training programmes, facilitating to respond to a revised admission process following the introduction of NEET for eligibility for admission, to list a few.

Every five years when a new Principal takes over, there is continuity and consolidation. It is a unique experience because, a senior faculty takes time away from his or her regular work to make a contribution in an administrative role!

Dr. Anna Pulimood has taken over as the new Principal. She served as the Vice-Prinicapl for undergraduate studies for five years and was the Vice-Pinicapl for Human Resources  till she was called upon to the role of being the Principal. CMC would enter into its hundredth year in medical education in 2018. There would be some relevant initiatives to celebrate this occasion and the responsibility of planning for this would be one of her immediate major responsibilities. 

The five Vice-Prinicapls and the Principal and a Registrar with his team of deputy registrars, are the core functionaries who provide leadership to  educational activities at CMC Vellore. 

I feel that CMC is at the threshold of a new era of transition for greater possibilities!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

A difficult season!

The Christian Medical College, Vellore is currently facing a challenge of having to conform to an admission policy of the government of india for all training courses in medicine! A national Entrance and Eligibility Test (NEET) is compulsorily introduced as the criterion for selection of undergraduate and post graduate trainees. CMC is under obligation to follow this. 

CMC has its own admission process for fifty years, with tests conducted at a two stage admission process. Merit was defined as good score in academic subjects and in aptitude, skills, conduct, general knowledge, sense of mission, etc. Now there is a threat to this process if the government were to insist that the only criterion for admission would be score obtained in the NEET!

I feel that an overriding emphasis only on marks obtained in academic subjects does not merit a student automatically to study medicine! The practice of medicine needs a particular inner perspective, attitude and personal calling! There is a strong persuasion in many overseas universities to offer  credit to these values while admission is finalised for medical studies!

I wonder whether we can debate on this issue and raise an awareness about the need of ascertaining the larger canvas of person's abilities before a person is chosen to study medicine!

The chairman of th Public Service Commission of Kerala, Dr. Radhakrishan, mentioned in his address at MOSC Medical College at its hospital day that, doctors ought to 'touch and heal', be humble and full of sympathy. They are values inherent to some and acquirable to a large extent when a person is inclined to embrace them! So choose those who are inclined to this attitude or are open to this orientation in life to study medicine!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Season of butterflies!

Anna put together recently all the pictures of the butterflies we spotted during this season in our garden!

We visited a butterfly garden a year back and observed that they need  host plants to breed. 

So we planted them around the  patches of lawns we have in the garden. Some plants are bare because the pupa feeds on the leaves. We have refrained from using pesticides on these plants to allow the breeding of butterflies. We are witnessing the benefit of it now!

One big challenge in gardening is to cultivate an attitude of allowing squirrels, birds, rodents, frogs etc. to survive! It is not always an easy process. We often gather fruits like papaya, half eaten by squirrels. A delay of few hours to puck them when they are ripe would be enough for the squirrels to feed on them!

A garden ought to have all these guests for it to be most natural!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)   

A recent picture!

Anna and I have been looking through our albums recently and have recollected memories that last and still inspire us!

This is the fortieth year of our shared living and growing!

Of all the things that have formed our lives, one significant experience is our pilgrim journey together. It this which is still unfolding the mystery of God in our lives! We recall many who guided and guarded our lives with their love and care because of which we are being enabled to discover life to be abundant in grace and bountiful with everything that we needed! 

We are older and still vulnerable to our moods and shortcomings....but we close each day gratefully for the joy of having been a gift to each other!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Chapel at Chittor campus!

One site that captures the attention of the visitors to the Christian Medical College campus at Chittor is its chapel which is open on all sides! It is located near the entrance to the campus. With this campus now having a hospital which draws about five hundred patients each day, it is often used by the visitors for prayer!

All the campuses of CMC Vellore, now nine of them, have a place set apart for for prayer! It is in keeping with the heritage of the institution. When Dr. Ida Scudder built the college campus, she built the chapel between the college building and with women's hostel to communicate that 'learning begins with prayer'.  

Since then the chapel symbolises the spirit of the institution, 'it is in God we trust'!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The in between time!

Daffny and Dulce spend the early morning together inside the house. They chase each other going from one room to the other. Of late, they have designed a game to take turns to hide and seek! It is not always a successful game as one of them impulsively would give away the game, when it takes a longer time to find the other!

We still keep a watch on them during this time! Daffny normally would find anything new in the house. She is certainly scent driven. Dulce is bold to do some mischief when Daffny is around inside the house, which she would not attempt during the rest of the day! Dulce is one year old this month and Daffny is three .

It is during the in between time when they rest, we get a sense of the dimension of rest! Although it is recovery time from  a hectic chase of each other, it is also more than that. It is at the close of one game they take such a break!

Make in between times during the day to reflect and look forward!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A new service-4th Anniversary project!

As we celebrate the 4th anniversary of the developmental Paediatrics and child Neurology service at MOSC Medical College, I feel glad that we are able to offer a new service to parents and children. Some parents have asked for some demonstration of child development facilities which they can create at home. That is what is provided in this room! It depicts childhood through pictures, charts, toys and narration covering infancy, toddler years, preschool years, early school years, pre-adolescent years and adolescent years! 

It was conceived and executed by the staff in the department. The room was decorated by Caren, Anjali, Rhea and Thomas, the present batch of interns, who have kept in touch with the progress of the department!

As visitors spend time in this room, we realise how a small effort goes a long way to create more awareness about the need of fostering a friendly childhood environment at home!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Thirty years of driving 500,000 Kilometres !

I remembered during the week end that Anna and I covered a little over 500,000 kilometres on road in 12 different cars since 1985!

The longest journey we undertook was from Vellore to Shillong few years back. We continue our car journeys.  Often it is to Vellore now-a-days!

The travel on road has improved with better roads and technologically advanced cars. 

In the earlier days, when our two children were young, car journeys were good family times of conversations and playing many 'car games'! Since Anna and I have often travelled on our own in the recent years, we have transformed the journey time for conversations and reflections. Anna would read from books that we have chosen for our journey!

Somehow, even now, driving to places bring me some excitement! It might be the desire to learn to drive restfully and effortlessly!

What we celebrate is the safety we have had inspite of the damages to the car in two major accidents!

I still look forward to some more years of happy driving, all being well!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Difference or another hue!

There was a difference of one minute between these two pictures! It was cloudy when the first picture was taken. When the second picture was taken the sun was shining outside. There was no other change in the camera settings. The orchid is placed on the window-sill at our cottage!

The difference is only too small to notice! However, the difference is  worth our attention! The difference in the colour makes the flower even more unique.

I come across  families who compare their children and worry about their differences in attitude, behaviour and interests. I wish parents do not fall into this trap of differentiating their children into their expectations; instead see in each of them something distinct and special that they can celebrate and complement!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

Sparrow on a slanting slender plant!

As I  watched this sparrow positions itself on a slanting slender plant in a thick bush, while it was windy,  I remembered the delicate state that I was with my health three years back! While I was wheeled into the operation theatre for the coronary heart surgery, I was told by the surgeon to occupy myself with the thoughts of recovery and the happy times ahead! 

Yesterday, at the end of four kilometres walk and climbing multiple staircases, I remembered his words, because I could have gone on doing more exercise and still feeling well!

And yet health is still a delicate matter for everyone! I found eleven children with overweight out of twenty five children I welcomed for consultation last week! Their parents too carried risk factors!

I wish, more of us would 'enjoy' living well because, life has a song deep within which would be known to us only when we feel well in body, mind and soul!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Christmas cheer!

During the departmental meeting this week, we spent sometime thinking and planning about the 'Christmas cheer-2016'! I still remember the occasion when we had the sale last year towards furnishing he Hall of Residence. Hopefully the facility to welcome children for day care would be inaugurated in October this year!

The sale this year would be for setting up a Transition Planning Centre for adolescent children with special needs who are ready to move on for a pre-vocational preparation! We have got the space and facility partly ready and hopefully with the sale planned for this Christmas we would find enough resource to be able to complete the preparation!

I realise that there are four new professionals in the team whose enthusiasm is inspiring to attempt this exercise!

 M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

'Follow the impulses of your heart and desires of your eyes'!

This is the first migratory bird I noticed in our garden this year!

As I kept watching this bird, my thoughts returned to a phrase I remembered from my meditation in the morning form Ecclesiastes11.9, '..follow the impulse of your heart and the desires of your eyes..'. It is this which the bird has followed even in this season!

However, it is also important to focus on how this bird makes this choice! It makes the choice to overcome the cold season, when its food and safety woeful be at risk! It is mindful of its responsibility to overcome an adversity!

Yesterday, while in conversation, I realised how this outlook to life is threatened by the enticing things of this world!  While watching the TV, I noticed that all the four national English channels would have an advertisement time of two to three minutes almost every five minutes! So the impulses of our hearts and the desires of our eyes are influenced by external pressures!

Oh, that men and women would have the word of God as the 'light for their feet and lamp unto their path'! 

M,.C.Mathew(text and photo)

One of my search interests!

One of the questions friends often ask me is, 'What is your latest interest, professionally'! For about twenty years I have observed a phenomenon of some children having some changes in their EEG patterns, without any clinical features of convulsions! I have been sifting through information and I am almost arriving at some strong indications of the possible reasons for this.

I have some other active enquiries on matters related to child development. Some are leading to some insights and clarity that I have been longing for!

It is now thirty three ears since I have devoted myself full-time to learning and practising Developmental Neurology and studying a lot from about twenty thousand children with different types of neurodevelopment needs!

I feel moved to have been in the company of children who have been my teachers and whose life experiences have given me sense of mission in life!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Nature's ways!

This papaya plant twas not planted, but sprouted and grew on its own in the site adjacent to the compost pit! It is now about to produce its first fruits. It took about eight months for it to grow to this height and flowering stage!

Although it is not in the proper place ideally, we let it grow as its resilience to sprout was worth our attention!

Life is not just events that take place by chance! Since the flowers have appeared in this papaya plant it is frequented by squirrels.  

Is this not the way God of creation provides for all who dwell on earth!

If so, I wish humans can learn to be more accommodative of each others and choose harmony as a way of life!  

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Men's conversation!

I was with some relatives attending a function last week! There were many cars parked in the ground. Obviously the attention of all of us turned to the different brands of cards parked. One commented that the cost of the cars parked would exceed thirty crores of rupees. Some cars were the costliest in the market. 

One of us tried turning the attention to something else, but the conversation soon drifted back to the cars. It was an education tour on the special features of some popular and costly brands.

I too am a car enthusiast. Therefore I was fascinated by the information.

But at the end of the conversation, I realised that we talked about everything else except about ourselves! We even talked about our children and grandchildren! The closet that came to any personal reference was the 'busy' pace of work and challenges to our health!

I remember a senior counsellor telling me once that it is good to make a self disclosure about oneself in a group to turn the conversation to a life centred content! I am afraid I did not do this on this occasion! I returned from this meeting with an awareness that it is necessary to focus on making conversations edifying and not just sharing information alone!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Baptismal outlook!

Anna and I attended a baptismal service of an infant last week, conducted according to the rites of the Marthoma Syrian Church .

As the opinions on baptism range from infant baptism to adult baptism, the celebrant priest expounded at the beginning of the service, that what matters is the personal faith of every member of the church in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and not following only some  rituals and practices. 

I was encouraged by the emphasis he gave to the heart of faith journey for every member of the church!

Faith, hope and love are the three anchors which St. Paul emphasised in I Cor. 13 for a pilgrim journey for all those who want to follow the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth!

And yet, it is this which is often tested, in our every day life. I had an intense struggle within myself against being indifferent to a family who had some fixed ideas about their child's learning prospects! As I reflected on that difficult experience, I became aware that loving even when it is difficult is the only option of true followers of Jesus of Nazareth!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Monsoon has receded!

Since June this week was palmistry dry and the whether forecast is that the dry spell would continue for a while! The clear blue sky with the clouds was a welcome change to sight!

When seasons change, it is a time to look back and look forward to! A farmer in our neighbourhood reminded me that it is the right time to put fertilisers for the banana plantation! That is what we are abut to do! It is also the time to trim trees and attend to the overgrown meadow!

How good it is to have different seasons! It reminds us of the different inner seasons as well! A family told me that after twenty years of their marriage, the father is sober after he has been through a successful de-addiction! They told me that it is Christmas at home!  

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Plenty for everyone!

Anna and I noticed this coconut tree with plenty of coconuts when we were in a church campus! It reminded us of the symbol it is to all those who come to worship in the church. God has intended abundance of His presence and provisions to all those who seek Him! I wish God consciousness would grow within human hearts with personal transformation that all humans become neighbours to each other!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

The road users!

When the road was quiet for a few minutes within the CMC Ludhiana campus, it was occupied by these visitors!

MC.Mathew(text and photo(

A covered wall!

I came across a compound wall of a house covered with this ornamental plant full of flowers! It is a novel way of making the wall come alive in most natural hue!

It is a message of some significance because, people are ready now to experiment with new ideas for keeping the environment green!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

In appreciation!

Dr. Radhakrishanan, the former Dean of MOSC Medical College,(seated in the centre) retired from his service after thirteen years a year ago! This photo taken at the public meeting of the first anniversary of of the Developmental Paediatrics and Child Neurology department in 2013 is a special  one because he graced the occasion as the chief guest at this meeting!

Anna and I have had several occasions to receive words and acts of encouragements from him. When the department was set up, it was he who graciously spared five rooms that belonged to the Forensic Medicine department, whose head he was then, when the management was struggling to find a space to locate us. 

Dr Radhakrishnan was the founding Dean of the college and brought an atmosphere of cordiality and order in the life of the institution! He inspired, instructed, corrected and led from the front! He functioned as a statesman in medical education! 

There are some individuals,  who are also an 'institution'. Dr. Radhakrishan is one such leader!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Because He lives!

At the first anniversary Public meeting of the Developmental Paediatrics and Child Neurology department, these campus children sang for us in 2013. 'Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.. and life is worth the living just because He lives'!

It is good to recall this, because after three years, we still draw our inspiration from this call to trust to move on! 

'Change is the only thing that is constant'- a phrase often quoted as a management principle! In the context of this, how refreshing it is to be reminded of the words of Jesus of Nazareth, 'I am with you always..'!

I shall complete 33 years since I moved to be involved full-time in Developmental Paediatrics and Child Neurology..... it gave me an opportunity to have welcomed about 15000 children families for consultation and conversations! Tis experience added colour and insights to my life!

Some ask me, 'How was it being in the valley of human suffering for so long'! I am yet to comprehend fully the giant of this experience. However one gain that I am grateful is that, it has brought me closer to people who live with hope!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Fruits in their season!

Whether it is one or five, to find fruits growing out of flowers is a delight! The fruits are born inspite of many odds.

I have been watching these flowers bear these fruits during the last three weeks. During this time, the growth of the fruits was slow but consistent. They could have disappeared anytime as birds and squirrels are fond of them!

Plants give away their flowers and fruits! They are gifts offered to any one in need them! 

In fact when flowers and fruits are sold, there is also a financial gain!

This tells us about the cycle in nature. We take care of the  earth and the earth produces fruits for us. 

Having been responsible to take care of the property around our cottage was a pleasant experience although demanding with domestic workers struggling to keep the weeds and pests away! The plants require almost daily attention!

There is a fresh look to the garden when they are tended and cared for! 

It is as much as we invest into providing what they need, they produce their yield!

Anna and I have found this stewardship fulfilling and are very grateful to our domestic workers who toil in the sun and rain to do this with their full attention!

M.C.Mathew(texta and photo) 

Four years!

On 14th September 2016, the department of Developmental Paediatrics and Child Neurology at MOSC Medical College, completed 4 years of its presence and service. It was a good beginning with the above team. Three have moved on and four others others have joined. 

It was a small beginning offering neuro-developmental consultation to children at the Child Development Centre. Now there are services offered through the Early Learning Centre, Family Support Centre and we are in the final stage of setting up the Pre-school Formation Centre and Transition Planning Centre.

A lot has happened, mostly of encouragements and sensing the direction for the future!

The new team is equally enthusiastic with an interest to consolidate and communicate!

For me, it added another dimension to the understanding of health care practices in a new culture! For Anna and myself these four years have been a season of many peasant happenings at the family level!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Skilled workers!

I watched these workers transfer bricks to the first floor! It is a skill that that they have mastered!

The artisans and 'unskilled' workers surprise us by the unusual manual skills they display! Human development is a science worth studying in all seriousness!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Looking beyond!

I was encouraged to meet Dr. Rebecca Naylor recently, who gave leadership to Bangalore Baptist Hospital in its earlier years and fostered a partnership with Christian Medical College, Vellore to give a transition to what it has become. She is an unusual person of vision, determination and empowering skill. 

While we were on conversation, she was making suggestions about new ideas for the development of the hospital, some of which were bold proposals which could give considerable advantage to the hospital. 

Some leaders  think beyond the usual! I found it inspiring!

Ou personal future itself is dependent on how we choose the way marks of our journey!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

One, Two, Three..

A three years old child visited me with her parents  a few days ago. She went to the flower bed and started counting One, Two and Three. She stopped at three as she had learned from her play school to count only till three. 

She told me that the home work for the week was to count everything she saw upto three. 

After counting the flowers, she counted the three windows. Then she started counting the dogs. After counting the two dogs, she asked me for the third dog! She looked disappointed because she could not count a third dog. Then she counted One, looking at me and looked for others. Anna was away at that time. When she could not count beyond one, she looked even more disappointed!   

For her all things exist in threes. That seems to be the message she received from her class.

I was amused by her enthusiasm to count and her parents told me that when she counted their fingers she was disappointed that she could not go on counting beyond three.. 

So her parents began teaching her to count till ten now!

For young children, there is the world of parents and teachers and most things exist as conditioned by them!

It was after this girl counted the flowers I looked at the way flowers are arranged. I could find flower arrangements upto five in a cluster! This was a fascinating discovery for me. 

There is always something more in the nature to discover!

I started writing down the new discoveries I am make each week during the morning walks!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Sunward orientation!

These butter cup flowers are directed towards the sunshine! They open around 6.30 am or so when the sun shines on them and close by about 11 am.

They are directed towards the sunshine all the time!

Humans are called upon to be Godward in orientation!

When the cooking gas cylinder began to leak today, I went to someone whom I thought has some idea of mending it. He was about to leave for a marriage; but he stopped and explained to me how replacing a washer is all that needs to be done. He told me the steps to do it. After I did it and called him to thank him for his timely help, he said, 'helping whenever possible brings satisfaction'.

I was encouraged to discover this openness he carries in his outlook to life! What determines our behaviour is our inward orientation!

Jesus of Nazareth was One who had his orientation towards God and His life tuned towards the needs of others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Is it a 'newborn' grass hopper?

Some sights make me puzzled! These are sights that I had not noticed so far! So there is something to look forward to each day!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Blue Dragon fly!

I have been trying to photograph dragon flies recently because the design on their wings fascinate me! They are different when I look at them with a hand lens.

This one bluish in colour is the rather new to our garden!

I have no sense of Botany and Zoology. Therefore I have begun to get more informed about some of the special sights I pick up during the morning walk!

I have realised that nature is a treasure! To me it transcends the beauty they add to nature! They are creatures that tell us the mystery all 'things bright and beautiful'!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A sight that stops you to take note!

My apologies for a poorly focussed photograph!  This is the best among the several ones of the spider web I took with a compact camera in the morning when the web was still wet with moisture! I looked for the spider, but could not find it!

Its symmetry is distorted. Obviously it has been there for a while, still surviving the wind and the rain!

I have not had an opportunity to watch a spider weave a web although I have sometimes stayed watching a web to notice the spider appear from somewhere!

What went through my mind as I watched this web is its design! It is exquisite!  It is fragile and yet resilient!

There are only few things in nature which combine this contrasting features!

Human life is also an amalgam of fragility and resilience!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Between the two flowers!

As I watched this Moth move between the two flowers several times in the garden this morning, I wondered why it did not complete sucking and move to the other flower once and for all!

That made me curious! I watched butterflies, bees and other honey sucking insects do the same thing!

I noticed a hurry and more fluttering than staying at any flower!

If a pre-school child were to be moving from one activity to another in a hurry, one would refer to it as impulsivity! 

But that can't be the case with these honey sucking flies!

I have decided to explore this further!

One insight that dawned on me as a lesson of application in daily living is that we exist in a space of events and happenings and they make us behave in a particular way!  I wish all of us can grow out of this anxiety of being conditioned and controlled by others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Breaking the pot..!

Since I played this game in my school years fifty years ago, I happened to have an opportunity to watch this game of breaking the pot last week at the MOSC Medical College. Anna and I could not stay on for the completion of the game as we had to go for another engagement. But we watched the preparation for the game!

Once the pot is lifted high while hanging on a rope, the person who aims the pot with a stick to break  has to compete with the one who is moving the pot fast with the help of a pulley.  All that you are given is only a few attempts! When you break it the pot would shower coloured water! If the person is blindfolded it can be even more fun for the spectators!

The interesting part of this game is little beyond just the fun of it! 

It is a game that reminds us that there are others who can restrict one's opportunities in life! It is the way our society functions. Therefore wiser people would persist to conquer because it is important to do so or would let go if persisting is of not much of consequence! In letting go, you would escape the splashing of the coloured water on yourself!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Symbol of harvest!

Following the monsoon, there is a celebration of the bounties of nature! For a farmer, it is the harvest from his field! 

As I watched the medical students arrange this traditional symbol of harvest, I was reminded of the way the measuring pot used here, was used during my childhood days. 

Following the gathering of the paddy from the field, it was measured by using this pot! I was given the privilege to fill and measure paddy following the harvest. 

Those childhood days were special. I too felt involved in the farm activities of ploughing the field and sowing seeds!

Now that Anna and I have been living for three and half years in this cottage where I grew up, I have several memories that remind me of the origins of some of my thoughts and attitudes! I am on way to find my roots!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Fruit of perseverance!

Anna has had several attempts to grow orchid plants in our verandah! This time it has worked splendidly! The bunch of flowers were waiting for Anna to return from Vellore to blossom! 

There is a special feeling of nearness to nature when we have plants that thrive!

Whenever we go to a horticulture farm, Anna woeful ask about growing orchids! The information helped in doing everything needed in the right time!

I am glad that we can condition our environment by careful planning!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Garden of banana plants!

Anna and I found this sight of banana plants in the centre of a traffic junction on the main road, close to our home, while we were on our way  to the hospital this morning!

Th road has several pot holes and when water cover the pot holes on a rainy day, the scooterists have a terrible time to navigate. Recently there were a few accidents and the public works department is yet to do something about it!

The volunteers who did it in the night spoke angrily about the way authorities respond to the plea of citizens! I wondered whether it was more appropriate to fill the pot holes with some mud, because the police removed these banana plants and in the evening on our return, we found the road unattended.

There is a apathy of some sort in being responsive to the needs of people! This is the root cause for cynicism and anger among the civil society!

MC.Mathew(text and photo)

The young has it !

What Anna and I  look forward to when Dulcey and Daffney play together is their running race! The ten months old Dulcey and three years old Daffney reversed their roles recently. Dulce is the winner in the running race of late!  

I was with some medical students yesterday and we wanted some information about obesity and its association with sleep. In less than a minute they were able to get that information through accessing the net. Although I have a better smartphone than what they have, I would have taken several minutes to get that information!  

I have recently come across that some students come for the lectures by the teachers with more information than what would be covered in a lecture. So staying attentive to the  presentation of the teacher is a demanding exercise. 

In a verbal survey, sixty percent of students would like a different way of class room presentation than what we normally do!

So it is time that there is a serious review of what and how we do when we relate to younger people!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Creations of human minds!

As I watched the students create this flower design on the foyer of the MOSC Medical College a few days back, I was fascinated by the efforts of many of them in sharing their ideas and give form and shape to an exquisite piece of art on the floor!

I spent about an hour watching four groups of students create floral art on the floor! I felt sorry that I was doing this during the working hours, while students were enjoying their holiday!

I was captured by the enthusiasm and fervour of the students to give their best to be uniquely creative!

Every time I have an occasion to meet with students, I return from the experience with a sense of awe and wonder about their talent pool!  I wish there was more engagement of their youthful vibrance into the life of this community for the benefit of students and faculty!

Give students an idea, they would surpass our expectations!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)