Wall Hanging!

How do we create our living space!

During a visit to a friend we noticed how the home was aesthetically and gently decorated with simple wall hangings  and handcrafted pieces of art!

This brings a new ambience to a home!

There is something to look at and talk about! 

The conversation during our visit started with how different art works were was collected and arranged over a period of time, and how each of these brings a meaning and content!

What we display on the walls in our homes and work place is a self revelation of our thoughts, feelings and aspirations!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Going Green !

There is a new consciousness about using plants indoor to make the environment eco-freindly in the place where Anna and I work!

There is restriction of water supply for six hours during the day as the monsoon showers during this season has not been enough!

To think of water scarcity in the state of Kerala, where we normally have two monsoon seasons during a calendar year is unusual.

It is true that deforestation is taking place at alarming rate because construction of highways, housing colonies and demand for timber!

The average temperature has gone by one degree during the last four years since we have been here!

We are reminded to be better stewards of the created world... During the last two years, we had to cut down sixty-five trees in our garden as they had overgrown... the two hundred saplings we planted in the vacant space are growing! We have new families of birds nesting in those shrubs...

M.C.Mathew  

playing for pleasure...!

All children discover the pleasure of play in early childhood. With both our grandchildren, Anna and I observed that, that they look forward to being read to or playing with toys or being outdoor watching sights and scenes and listening!

One aspect that adults and parents can help immensely, is to create a child friendly library of toys and books at home corresponding to their age! Children would explore themselves on their own and adults can enlarge their horizon of thinking and experience by engaging with them.

I wish at least half the time that children spend watching TV or playing games in the computer can be replaced by interactive times!

The loneliness of childhood gets intensified when we offer everything else to them except ourselves!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Surfaces for learning...!

Most of the surfaces of the walls, cupboards, and glass panels are used in the developmental Paediatrics department for displaying learning information for children. When children come for consultation or for their developmental support, most children look at the surfaces and name the objects or express their ideas or interest in the pictures they see!

Christy, a former psychologist and Caren, an intern along with others in the team gave leadership to this project. 

The monotony of looking at blank surfaces can be overcome by this creative approach!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Winter has arrived!

It is during the winter months ants prepare their nesting place. This large nest in the nutmeg tree at our courtyard is a sight to watch- how these ants prepared this nest during a period of  just three days!

So, birds, ants, reptiles... we have all of them around our cottage! 

Anna and I felt, even this morning that we live our live our lives hurriedly and miss all the sights in nature!

It is only when we live at a different pace, taking time to notice the silent events around us, we get  a sense of the 'wonders' in nature!

What we witness is nature is a testimony to the creator God, because of whose 'fullness, all things exist'!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Lady Chair person !

At the MOSC Medical college day function last week, a lady chair person was installed as the president of the college Union. In its history of 14 years, it is the first time a lady chairperson was elected which was therefore a special occasion for students to celebrate!

In her speech oaf acceptance, she spoke about this opportunity as a privilege and drew the applause of the students for what she spoke and in the way she spoke. 

This has given the lady students a new sense of identity and belonging! This has integrated the students even more into a vibrant body!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Save a rupee campaign, 2016

At the dedication of the Hall of Residence early this month, where the Learning Resource Centre is located, Susan and Samuel announced the 'save a rupee campaign for one month' as one of the activities to raise some support for the Transition Planning Centre. The department is preparing to establish it for introducing life skill orientation to adolescent girls, who are developmentally challenged. 

About five hundred have volunteered from the MOSC campus to participate in it during the month of November 2016. We are already surprised by the gifts that have come in towards this project.

What we discover  each time we engage with the community at MOSC Medical College is its enormous resourcefulness!

M.C. Mathew(text and photo)

Badminton tournament-2016

The volunteers from 2015 and 2016 batches who came yesterday to discuss about the planning for the badminton tournament due to to be held between 23 and 25 Nov, 2016, were fascinated by the cheerful ending of the tournament in 2015. 

For some reason, the students of MOSC Medical college, have been most forthcoming to support and help with any project we undertake at the department of developmental Paediatrics and child neurology. Anna and I are touched by by their kindness. 

M.C.Mathew

History of at least 116 years!

This rock formation at he college Hill, adjacent to the CMC Vellore campus has remained in this present form for at least 116 years, since the college was established. It would have remained like this much beyond this period of time!

This rock formations from the bottom to the top of the hill makes the hill striking and inspiring. 

Recently, when Anna and I climbed this hill along with our children and grand children, it was a family occasion of many recollections. Both boys and Anna who studied at CMC Vellore would have climbed this hill scores of times, because it is adjacent to both the men's and women's hostels. Also it is one place students would want to visit because the view from the top is breathtaking and it seems to bring some unusual energy every time one climbs the hill. 

I too remember climbing this hill many times during my time of fifteen years at CMC. The occasion I remember mostly is when we climbed the hill to have the sunrise Eucharistic service  on the Easter morning! The breakfast after the service was like a 'seashore experience', when Jesus had breakfast with His disciples after His resurrection!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Innovating as a way of life!

Prof. Valiathan, who invented the Chithra heart valve was at CMC Vellore recently for the convocation of the post graduates!

After an intensive research, Dr. Valiathan perfected the art of designing and crafting the heart valve 25 years ago which has been used in about one hundred thousand patents over these years! Now the second generation valve is getting ready for clinical trial!

With no mention to all the outstanding achievements in his address, he invited the graduating students to consider the call of being 'physician friends' to patients!

Yesterday, an orthopaedic surgeon told me that, when he goes shopping, he meets someone whom he looked after during his thirty-five years of service in the hospital!

Dr. Valiathan urged in his address that the 'art of practice of medicine' is both 'taught' and 'caught'! 

M.C.Mathew(photo and text)  

Flowers are reminders!

What remains in our memories!

I went through an exercise of locating the sites of the pictures which  I photographed over the recent years. This photograph reminds me of two senior  friends whom Anna and I have known over the last 25 years. One has moved on.. and the other with whom we are in touch regularly recently expressed his desire to visit us in February, 2017. 

How do we treasure our memories!

It is by remembering and being in touch!

Yesterday a student sent a message to Anna for the encouragement he received during a visit to our home because of which he took an initiative to organise to perform on the stage as a batch on the college day! This seems to have reunited them as a batch and given them a new enthusiasm to be in touch with each other!

Memories are our treasures... they make us live our lives in fellowship with others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Awards and achievements!

At the College day celebrations, I counted twenty seven students receive acknowledgements for their curricular and extracurricular activities! 

One of the students mentioned after receiving a prize that, 'I did not know that I was able to do this...' 

This to me is the mission of teachers- to help students to recognise and nurture their abilities! When the medical training goes beyond focusing on passing examinations, the students would find the surprises hidden in them!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

I am sad...!

As I heard, the child in the centre say, 'I and sad..', I was reminded of the many who visit to consult because they are sad! Many parents and children suffer from this mood frequently!

During a conversation yesterday, someone asked me 'why are you in this work with children and parents'!

There is sadness in human hearts! Let us do any good that we can do...! It is a calling to go beyond the consideration of our gains and focus on the needs of others. It is when we can do that, our work becomes a mission!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Then and Now...!

The department of developmental Paediatrics and child Neurology at MOSC Medical College is now in the season of its fourth anniversary celebration. 

So we have conversations and recollections of our journey thus far during our in  between times!

When we began(the first photo), it was a small group and now it is larger (second photo)! 

We started with the activities of a Child development Centre. At the fourth year, we look back with gratitude for having been able to expand to start the Early Learning Centre, Family Support Centre and Learning Resource Centre. 

The Badminton tournament next week and the Christmas cheer activities are for soliciting support for starting the Transition Planning Centre for offering life skill training for adolescent girls. 

Small beginning, but significant...many laboured and God blessed those efforts!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A favourite play!

Daffney would discover coconut husk from somewhere in the garden every time she is out in the garden. She would shred the husk apart! It is one habit that she has not grown out of as yet!

Some of our habits and patterns stay with us... yesterday a family who visited us with thier adolescent child told us about the challenges in their family dynamics as some habits of parents and and their child produce conflict that is difficult to resolve!

We create our habits.. so we change our habits..!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

In stillness!

I found this bird in this posture for over fifteen minutes!

A friend who introduced me to meditation used to say that when the body is still the mind would move to restfulness! When the body is still and the mid is restful, there is interior silence... We experience God's presence and grow in God consciousness in interior silence!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Apples, Pears and Grapes!

Anna and I stayed with a friend a year back and found to our delight their garden with different fruits!  Our friends give their full attention to tend their garden through out the year!

Recently Anna and I were talking in our garden around our cottage. We too have fruit bearing trees.... We have a regular supply of bananas, papaya, pine apple...

These are gifts to us from nature!

The earth brings its fruits as much as we give attention to them!

A farmer told to me recently that the trees in his garden are his friends... he spends time visiting them and feeling their presence!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Badminton-2016

We are in the midst of preparation for the badminton tournament for the faculty and students scheduled for the next midweek! It is a time to look forward to as it brings the students and the faculty together for a time of interaction and fellowship! Samuel, a second year medical student who volunteered to help the department during his holidays for the last six weeks is leading the organisation group. 

We have something to look forward to because, we get to know students and faculty in a personal way through this exercise!

M.C.Mathew(photo of 2015 tournament)

The retired and current faculty!

It was a delightful occasion for Anna and myself to meet with the retired and the current faculty of CMC Vellore during the convocation of post the graduates and higher specialty trainees. They reminded us of the wise counsel of eminent professionals that CMC is blessed with!

M.C.Mathew(text and photos)

Beautiful butterflies!

Anna and I spotted nine different varieties of butterflies in our garden during this season! So it is worth having a garden and tend the flowering plants!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The Logo competition-2016

The department  of child Neurology and developmental Paediatrics at MOSC Medical College has an annual event of holding a week end of badminton matches for the faculty and students. We hold a logo design activity for students which we use for the T-shirts we bring out for this occasion.

It was a refreshing sight to see 27 students participate in this activity, each one  designing a log to convey the theme of 'togetherness'.

This design which was chosen  for the logo this year represents the idea of, 'moving together'. The T-shirt printed with this logo looks elegant and contemporary!

What fascinates me is that each logo designed represented a unique idea and conveys a message of  striving towards the experience of togetherness!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

The Jasmine Chain!

Every year the post graduates and the undergraduates get escorted ceremoniously by the final year medical students carrying the jasmine chain  to the Scudder auditorium at the Christian Medical College, Vellore for their convocation. The rest of us witnessing this occasion is moved with a sense of serene and solemn feeling!

The jasmine chain is a symbol of fullness of life!  They are fragile, fresh and fragrant! Each flower is small and brittle. But when they are bound together to make it into a chain, it takes a new form of significance and visibility! 

To the graduating students it is a message! During the years spent at CMC, Vellore, they have been held together by a bond that would help them to make a difference wherever they go. When they leave the portals of the institution they are still part of community of the alumni who are scattered, but still held together by the traditions and values that have formed them during their time together in the campus. 

To all the undergraduates and the post graduates, this is a calling to live for!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Arrival of new birds!

As the winter is approaching, I notice new birds in pairs in our garden. Yesterday, we noticed smaller birds criss-crossing over the meadow and moving from one shrub to another! Were  they looking for a homely environment to nest!

These birds are sensitive to human presence and noise. Daffney and Dulcy are generally friendly towards them. After a while we had to refill our bird bath yesterday towards the evening! 

One thing that struck me yesterday was the 'call' of the birds. We hear these calls early in the morning and late afternoons and there is almost a cacophony sometimes. It is a sure sign that birds of different species are in the garden! 

A keen bird watcher, Dr. Sanjeeth Peter told me recently, that it is important to be hospitable to birds. They take a while to feel at home in human settlement! 

How much more to learn to be hospitable! It is a life long journey!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

At home

It was a pleasant break from the pressures of work and circumstances that Anna and I have been going through during the last one month, when these final year medical students from MOSC medical college visited us and spent an afternoon with us at our cottage! Anna was helping them with co-ordianting their student research work for an over year now and got to know them personally. Last week they invited us to spend an evening with  them and this week it was our turn to have them at our  home! They delighted us by their presence!

The young generation is aspirational, innovative and explorative. They think, plan and follow the sense of direction they feel. They are original in their thinking and hence need formative support! 

As we listen to their ways and attitudes, it is evident that the younger professionals are full of energy and enthusiasm to make a difference! 

The more teachers listen to students the more we would learn how as teachers we ought to change to suit the needs of students! It is not information that they seek, but experiences that can touch their lives! It is not even enough to be role models, but teachers ought to be companions to share in the journey of students in their search for purpose for the study of medicine!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)