During a conversation!

As these three men were in conversation, I observed short silent spells! Their faces suggest that they are in thoughts!

We think, feel and respond!

There is yet another dimension of listening from within before we talk!

I have some friends who practice this! They speak less but what they speak are pathfinders for the listeners!

There is an inner listening! It is from this words are born to speak! If only we can speak what we hear, words would become a means for uplifting, healing, comforting, affirming....

This is the language of the heart!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Rings of growth!

It is possible to count the rings around a tree and calculate its years of growth!

The wood cutter who brought this to my attention showed the core and periphery of this growth rings. The inside is its core and the wood is worth only when the core is large!

It is the inside that matters!

Who are we inside is a question which the psychologists often raise in personal conversations!

We can conceal our inside or reveal it...humans inspire others when they reveal their inside of altruism and self-giving!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Ready for a flight!

Just before a Magpie Robin takes its flight, it is in this posture for a few seconds!

This readiness reveals many things. As I watched this bird for a while in the campus moving from one place to another, it follows its instinct as well as responds to the movement in the environment. 

It follows its rhythm of response!

It is a bird in the lower rung of the hierarchy of birds! The bigger birds bring a threat!

It is of some interest to me that, it is is often in safe places and is not competing with others. 

It too has its space!

I find this this thought inspiring! If only we can find our space of belonging, that is what would make our lives purposeful and meaningful! Living in that space becomes our calling!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Pink and bright!

The sight of these flowers brought an inner stillness while I was walking to the car park with many questions in mind about some events that happened recently!

It was a call to pause and ponder!

It helped me into a transition of viewing the recent experiences through another optic!

It is not what happen around us or to us that matters...but our reactions to them!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A contrast!

The lawn and the hedge plants survived in the summer heat..but not the Christmas tree!

We would have to adjust to many unexpected things in life!

How we react to them is what matters!

It was sad to lose a tree but many plants survived the heat!

The question is whether the glass is half full or half empty!

It was during the last two weeks I came to face the reality that I can be drawn away by a 'half empty attitude'!

It is a good practice to have regular personal audit of our attitudes!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Ingenuity !

The wood cutters were at work during the week end to cut a tall tree which was leaning on to the roof of the Early Learning centre!

What I saw fascinated me! With one rope they let the cut branch hang and lower it slowly while with another rope they directed the branch to the place they wanted it to fall!

This 'double rope' method was well used and only the trunk of the tree remains to be cut!

This method of careful planning was a special sight to watch. The workers with experience in wood cutting for five years and more applied every principle of good planning!

It was  a live demonstration of  human resourcefulness and ingenuity!

M.C.Mathew 

Mystery of missing birds !

At the beginning of the last week, Anna and I noticed a nest and four birds.. at the end of the week, the birds are not around... on day we noticed one of them waiting...

The last three weeks have brought some gains and losses...

The gains were refreshing... the losses were distressing as well!

That is the rhythm of life!

What remains within us can be hope and trust...!

That is what makes life wholesome!

M.C.Mathew

We shall overcome...

At the first anniversary meeting in September 2013, when we sang the song, 'We shall overcome...' with lighted candles along with students from the nearby schools and our college, we hoped for our efforts at the developmental paediatrics and child neurology department bear fruits!

A family who visit us from 2012 mentioned to me recently, 'we have grown with your department'! It is true that both their children have adjusted well to their challenges and are coping with schooling!

Every time a family visits us, it is  reminder to us of our mission! They come because they want to move on in life!

'Walk with those who walk, run with those who run and stay with those who stay' is our mission!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Recollections!

The T-shirt design by the students at MOSC Medical college at the occasion of the first anniversary of the developmental paediatrics and child neurology department in 2013 was a special occasion. There were 21 participants and each of them designed something creative and communicative. This is the design that was used for display in the T-shirts. 

The one below was used as a design for he posters we put up in different places. 

Both these themes stand out as inspirational in content and appeal!

There are times when we look back and remember the way marks of a journey!

One thing that stands out during the last five years of the department is the way students got involved in the planning and organisation of the department!

We are grateful to them!

M.C.Mathew

How it began!

Let me share something that moves me every time I return to recall the beginning of the department of Developmental paediatrics and Child Neurology at MOSC Medical College!

When the college was seeking for a place to locate the facility, the then Dean, Dr. Radhakrishnan, who also was the head of the department of the Forensic medicine, proposed that he could give us a place the department was not using and would not probably need for a while!

That space attached to the autopsy room since then became a borrowed space where the Child Development Centre is located. Dr. Radhakrishnan, seeing how congested we were and were desirous of more space offered the large autopsy hall, which was no more used. That since has become the activity area and houses the Transition Planning Centre!

Dr. Radhakrishnan's gesture of goodwill with no foreknowledge of how the space would be used was a blessing that has been a benediction on our work!

What matters is goodwill...that is what we can sow to make a difference!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Two and three!

Tinu and Susan on the left are the two professionals who are still at the Developmental Paediatrics and Child neurology department form among the team when the department started in 2012. Sneha, Honey and Chinthu have moved on and are in different places! Sally, house keeping staff is another person from the beginning!

Almost everyday we remember all the three who are no more with us because they left memories that last! 

At the fifth year of the department, memories are our treasure. 

We started with no indication of the direction and scope of this facility at a Medical College!

Now that the facilities include, a Child Development Centre, Early Learning Centre, Family Support Centre, Learning Support Centre and a Transition Planning Centre in its early stage, I am surprised at the mysterious unfolding of a small and slow beginning! 

We remember all those who made this into reality!

A family who came to visit yesterday said, 'you make us feel supported'! I wish we could make that as our calling!

It is those who use the faculty who can suggest the calling for which it exists!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Our living days..!

Anna and I had no idea how long this orchid would stay in bloom!  It lasted beyond six weeks! Every day it stayed fresh and inviting! One day, it shrivelled and was no more!

During its life, it brought a pleasant sight to us in our veranda! We received its gentle presence and felt encouraged by the beauty and serenity it brought us!

Life is for living for others! To bring a purpose and meaning as much as possible!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Another evening!

This photo is at sun set from the edge of our property!

As I returned home from the evening walk, what stayed with me is that one day is behind us! Each day is lived in the theatre of life! What we leave behind as seeds of love, mindfulness, care, provision for others add to make our living bring comfort and solace to others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Choose wisely!

As I watched three on the motorbike...I had many thoughts rushing into my mind! All three were teenagers!

They chose conveniently and not wisely when they decided to ride without helmet and three in  a motor bike! A 125 cc bike carrying a weight of about 200 kgs putting a stress on controlling the bike!

Our small choices are equally important as the big ones!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Road marks and guide posts!

As I watched these two walk past me along the road to their home in the evening, I reflected on the experiences of these two along the same road each day! The child has few years of experience and the older person has longer years of experience along this road!

Both of them follow the road marks to their home! They depend on them for their direction. 

However it is the older person who become the guideposts for the child!

There is so much talk on mentoring! To be a mentor would mean many things...but one function is  guide post. 

The protein Jeremiah. 31:21 suggests,' Set up for yourself road marks, Place for yourself guidepost, Direct your mind to the highway..'

The highway in life is open to all of us....there is an individual responsibility to find the road marks for ourselves and and the collective responsibility is to provide guideposts!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Bird habits!

I have no idea if it is the  same bird coming to the same tree each evening!

All birds would have some regular visits to the same place. It is one way they claim their territory!  Sometimes they visit the same place more than once a day!

Habits are patterns!

One child told me that he likes to complete all his home work at school so that he can play with his friends in the evening! That was his habit by choice!

It is good to check the origin of our habits and see if they are creative and purposeful!

A student told me that he could kick his habit of smoking when he realised that he is spending too much money on something that has the potential to harm him! 

We can shed unhealthy habits and embrace good habits! That is a sign of living with awareness !

M.C.Mathew( text and photo)

Which way will it go!

None of us can be sure if the ball in the air will reach the basket! This form of uncertainty spills over to different spheres of life!

Somehow the uncertainty disturbs and disorients us to some extent.

There is no antidote to make us feel certain when the probabilities are equal on both sides.

Someone who was not elected to be a class representative told me that the uncertainty is created by expectations and aspirations! He seems to have prepared himself to be content !

To be able to be content is not easy. However when one is content one is able to trust! When being trustful, one can find meaning in any situation!

This is a journey that I have often abandoned, but felt prompted to start after listening to this student!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)   

When the first Prize was shared !

I was present at the occasion when the first prize had to be shared between two winners! I remember seeing this on few other occasions!

What surprised me was when the judges mentioned that inspite of them having been judged in five domains by three judges, their final scores were the same !

It brings in a new dimension of the intensity of competition! the competition is often between the able and talented!

I have a suspicion, from the news item I read last week about a student getting all  the answers correct for the IIT entrance test, that merit needs to be decided by looking at other domains than just academic marks or performance scores alone!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

   

Editorial variability in reporting!

The two main news items on one particular day were the abolition of use of red light beacons in automobiles except in ambulances, fire engines or police vehicles and the conspiracy charge against  some national leaders over  demolition of the Babri Masjid about 25 years back. 

Look at how four english national dailies report them in their front page. It speaks of the variable editorial perception and the way each paper interprets the situation through its own political or social perspective. 

This is the story of the news reporting in media! 

We need to apply our perception to interpret the news and not go by what is reported! News reporting needs more fairness! I have a sense that it was lot better neutral and no-partisan in the past!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Summer of colours!

Summer makes some trees bring out their best gift to nature! There is a denseness and richness of colour which is conspicuous! The adversity of hot and humid climate bring the best out of these trees!

It is a lesson for humans! Our adverse circumstances can have a formative and enlarging impact in our lives if only we can integrate the experiences purposefully into our consciousness. Life needs challenges and not just stability! The best in out is brought into being when we feel helpless. There resides within us a well of resources and they are our reserves when perplexed or disturbed!

We are sheep and followers of a shepherd in the New Testament language! The shepherd watches over His sheep!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)