In a little space!

Look at this Drongo managing well with a foothold in a small stem! It needs just a little space!

To take only little or just what is needed is living with contentment. 

To so live that others can have more or as much as we have is a humanitarian view of living relationally! 

To create space for others before we settle in our space is a noble calling in life!

Mother Teresa lived this vocation!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Vigilant stillness!

 !

I watched this red crested Bulbul in this stationary position for several minutes sitting almost like a statue! It was bodily still, but gesturally vigilant!

Still but fully present and flight ready!

Readiness for what awaits us!

For good times and difficult times!

This comes from restful living. This is the opposite of striving while living!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

During a Flight !

Watch a bird during its flight. It changes its body position, direction and flight path. It adjusts to wind,  air currents and presence of other birds in the air.

Yesterday I had a conversation with a colleague. In seven years we have had seventeen professionals leaving after working for less than two years following their marriage. And yet the department kept moving forward in developing its service!

But is it a time to ponder on a change to the course and direction of the department! There are only two professionals who have been working for seven years. Is that good enough to make the department stable!

I am left with multiple questions in my mind!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

The wrong sun!

Look out for hiding birds at dawn in the early morning sun!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A chapel made of bamboo!

I found this chapel, unusual in its construction- interior and exterior of bamboo. This gives a festive look to the Bangalore Baptist Hospital campus.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Squirrel and honey !

Squirrels are normally scavengers of fruits and nuts. But they would turn to honey when they can find it!

Hanging drops!

I like watching this sight of dew drops hanging from the leaves in the morning. With the winter already giving way to summer heat, this might be the last time, I would see this during this season! 

The tender leaves receive the dew at night for the leaves survive the 36 degree celsius heat of the day! 

This is the cycle in nature. There is a rhythm and pattern that allows life to go on in nature!

Thousands of people who are affected by the recent amendment to the Citizens Amendment Act in india live in fear of losing their right to live in India and are now in the streets protesting against it for weeks. The government in Delhi seems to speak a language of harshness and intimidation with no invitation for dialogue or offer of review of the articles in the Act.  

A government is for all and not just for the advantage or benefit of one political party. A government is to govern the country taking in to consideration the aspirations of all people. A government needs to be seen on teh side of those who are most vulnerable. At this time, the leadership has become  prisoners of their party manifesto.  

Whether in the United States of America or in India, the political leadership is preoccupied with a partisan view of governance and not on an inclusive path to bring all sections of people to a common journey of hope and harmony!

The tender leaves survive the heat of the day because of the dew at night! Any government who is people centric would comfort its citizens who are wounded!

The hanging drops remind me of precarious and vulnerable existence! That is the story of many in India who might not have documents to prove their citizenship although they are born and live India! 

M.C.Mathew (text dn photo)

A singing bird and listening companion!

I have found this pair of birds in the same location a few times. One was singing and the other was in a listening posture!

Perhaps it was the season of romance in this mating season. 

It is through singing a bird gives away its bird call and its language of the heart!  

It is through how we say, what we say and how we use language we real ourselves to others. This has been a theme in my life in the recent weeks. 

The language of the heart is a dimension that engages me because, an upbuilding language is what would draw others to us. It is thoughtfulness in our language which would makes others feel refreshed and affirmed. 

It is when there is a difference of opinion we tend to be assertive or repetitive. That is precisely the occasion we ought to leave matters open ended for the dialogue to evolve. If the other person is in our focus while we communicative and not our desire to be heard or valued, then we become people building in our orientation! It is when this happens, what we say becomes graceful to listen to and a melody of comfort to others. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A morning sight!

I found these rose flowers and buds of different colours and sizes in different stages of their blossoming recently in our garden.  I was captivated by this biological phenomenon. 

The last photo is that of a bud and a flower damaged by a pest! 

It is now 37 years since I have been engaged in child development clinical work, mostly associated with children having neuro-developmental challenges. 

Yesterday we welcomed a family form Jharkhand, whose seven years of child is now in  stage of decline in his cognitive abilities, mobility and daily living skills probably due to a disease affecting the cerebellum and pontine areas of the brain. I felt disturbed seeing and listening to their story. They have been to three reputed neurological centres and are still hoping for the prospects of recovery. Now that it is unlikely to happen, my colleague and I spent most of the morning with them to help them to make some adaptations at home to add quality to his life. It was a difficult experience for them and us. 

There are traumatic experiences we encounter in our lives, some more distressing than the others. Yesterday we received the news of the home call of a domestic helped who worked for us for a while following a cancer.affecting his colon.

A garden would have flowers that are bright and colourful as well as  fading flowers, damaged flowers and buds. This is a reality!

Amidst the celebration of life, we live with some sorrowful experiences.  The joyfulness of life springs from an inner orientation towards God, 'in whom we live, move and have our being'! It is not in the abundance of things we have or possess or our striving to have more lies the inspiration to live, but in knowing that we are given what we need! That is why the verse in the Lord's prayer, 'give us our daily bread' can be the prayer of the heart!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

At eight 8 am!

On the highway to Salem, Anna and I found that road visibility was reduced by fog! 

It is  a common sight during the winter months. What was striking was that even at eight in the morning, the sun was still covered!

A lot of burning of waste takes place during the three days of Pongal. Even after one week of Pongal, the air is still dense and foggy!

It is not just in New Delhi alone there is air pollution, it is elsewhere as well.

For over fifty Kilometers, we noticed this foggy highway! We felt alarmed!

Our environment needs greater attention!

I wish composting would become more acceptable to people rather than during the waste!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Travelling salesmen!

Two two wheeler shops!

These two people are door to door salesmen, who reach the interior parts of villages to sell the vessels. They know the needs of the local community and take the vessels which would be needed during each season. With the summer about to set in, households would need vessels to carry and store water. So both these salesmen carry vessels for that purpose. They might sell at least half of them by the end of the day! They travel about fifty or so kilometres one way to do this. 

They earn their livelihood from this. But they provide for those who cannot travel to shopping centres. 

The rural India of villages is different from the urban and semi-urban culture. The mobile phones and Television net work might have penetrated the villages, but not the other amenities. 

I know of a family who moved from their urban home to live in a village to help the farmers learn sustainable farming practices. In three years, he got the farmers organised so well that they produce vegetables which they export to some middle east countries. The farmer's income have doubled when their products have found a market !

The rural India is looking for people who can bring welfare measures to them!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A bird on a leaf!

From a distance of about two hundred meters, at a height of about sixty meters,  I noticed this sunbird hopping between leaves on a teak tree in our garden. It did not need the strengthen of a twig or branch to hold on to! Its weight was light enough for the leaf to bear it!

A light weight existence! 

This bird manages well on a leaf which is swaying in the morning breeze. It is too risky a place to be in!

I presume it was the morning sun, that it was aspiring for at that height!

It is a symbol of living at the edge!

The edge represents an opportunity and a risk ! 

I know of a friend who spends time visiting senior citizens, who are home bound due to their limitations of advanced age. He visits them to make them feel wanted and valued! Some welcome his visit and some others ignore him.

He takes delight in offering his thoughtfulness ! He spends about six hours a week on his visits. He lives mindful of those who live at the edge of life!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Trees, Birds and nests!

This is a nesting time for many birds. I set out to look for nests in the CMC Vellore college campus while Anna and I were staying in the Alumni house for a few days. 

I looked out for the hollow in the trunk of trees, which often is used by birds to nest. While some gaping holes looked empty, one of them had twigs placed on it and another had a baby owl !

It was an evening hour and most birds would return to their nests before it is dark!

Yes the birds of the air do not sow or reap, but they are provided for about which Jesus fo Nazareth spoke about while giving His discourse on the foolishness of anxiety of 'what we shall eat or put on or where we live'!

Yesterday  morning I watched this wood pecker find its feed of insects from the bark of a teak tree in our garden. 

Th avians show us the way of living! We live in an environment of abundance! 

At Davos, the world leaders are discussing about the economic recession which is likely to hit the market badly in India and elsewhere. Its is when we want to accumulate and possess some others live in want! 

All of us can have enough if only we can let others also have what they need! This is the philosophy of distributive justice and opportunity for all!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A plant wall!

Gardening is an artwork for some. I met the gardener who fashioned this plant wall over last three years. He trimmed and shaped the wall with diligence. It is the central piece of attraction in this lawn. 

To convert an ordinary hedge plant to piece of art needed imagination and effort. 

I met with  a family whose three years old son is now at pre-school, but struggling to adjust to the class room due to inattention. The question that his mother asked me engaged me for a while!.'How am I to bring out abilities for him to discover himself'! She was confident that if only he knew why he is at pre-school he would gather himself to focus and stay attentive! This consciousness to lead him  to a growing sense of his worth and skills is her present mission for her son. 

It is we who can affirm worth and regards to all that is around us. For a gardener to have a sense of wanting to make a plant adorn a lawn speaks a lot of his regard for the potential that he sees in the plants that he tends. 

A medical professional is a design artist in one sense. It is those who are weary of a sickness who come to us. To lead them beyond the consciousness of their sickness and give them perspective of a calling in life and affirm them to be resourceful is the mission of a medical professional. So a sick person is more than a potent, he or she has a life to live and share with others. 

A neighbour shared his distress of having to take his wife, who is only in her mind thirties, to renal dialysis three times a week, looked weary and anxious. He is now planning to sell part of his property to prepare for a renal transplant. He spoke about the doctor who is attending on him as his companion who restores his hope! This doctor makes a difficult situation bearable!

To redeem a trying situation is the calling of medical professional!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Remembering a tree !

I remember this tree for at least twenty years, which got damaged in a lightning strike a few years back. Since then the gardener has preserved teh trunk of the tree and got it decorated with a flowering creeper, which stands as a testimony to the several decades of life of this tree. Even a tree, which lived its life, receives a grateful recognition!

I felt encouraged by the spirit of human consciousness of gratefulness!

Yesterday a faculty from CMC Vellore visited Anna and me at work, to remember his friendship with us as we happened to be parents of his class mate. It is now over ten years since we left CMC after superannuation. But he cared to find time when he came to conduct examination for the undergraduate medical students. 

Yesterday we Annam nd I went for the housewarming of our neighbour, who is an auto driver who has taken us several times to different places during the last eight years since we came to live here. His house built for him by a political party is a warm and cosy place. On arrival when he and his wife greeted us, we felt a sense of celebration because he looks overwhelmed by what he has been provided for!

To remember and to be grateful are enduring values!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The stress of work and pleasure of leisure!

The wrinkles on the face of the man working on the roof tells it all. His labour is effortful and difficult! The intense look on his face worried me! He was on the roof of the building without any protectivr gear! 

In the adjacent car park, this door was blissfully resting!

All of us bear the stress and scars of daily work. The relief comes when we find ways to let go of the burden of work and add to the daily rhythm time to rest and feel refreshed. 

All work places need to have a corner where people can come to be quiet or rest a while. 

I wonder if work places can have a room with card or board games or activiteis ot relax, to feel relieved from the effects of physical or emotional heaviness!

To do so would mean that we care for those who serve!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Flowers with long life!

Some flowers last for ever! I have noticed these flowers now crossing three months since they blossomed! That too looking fresh and richly colourful! They are special in a garden because summer or winter do not make any difference. They blossom all the time!

I was prompted to think about at human behaviour seeing this sight! Do I offer the same quality of hospitality when I welcome a family for consultation everyday! Do I talk to Anna thoughtfully and affectionately all the time! How do I relate to my colleagues on different occasions!

My behaviour is an index of my inner composure and wellness! Do I audit it regularly to leave behind a sense of goodness and kindness ! 

Do what I say and how I say sound good in the listener's ears! 

I ponder over these questions !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

A morning disappointment!

I have spotted this pair of Redwhiskered Bubbul on this fence in the mornings and feed on the fruits of the creeper. While the gardener was mowing the grass, he accidentally uprooted this creeeper and it dreid up, althought the frutis were still looked green enough!

One of the birds flew away soon after arrival seeing the creeper dry. Th eother waited for a while inspecting the creeper and fruit! Since the creeper dreid up, I have not spotted the pair visiting the site for the next three days that I was living in the guest house.

It seemed a small accident which cuased the creeper to dry up! But for this pair of birds, it was a denial of their daily feed. 

I was startled to discover how a small act of omission or commission can have a cascading effect and affect others who do not appear in our horizon of consideration! 

The parliamentarians in India passed a citizen's act a few months back which threaten the citizenship of millions of people from one religious community! There are protests and public appeals for the government to review the decision with no avail. Even the Supreme court of India is dragging its feet to recognise the distress caused by this inconsiderate decision!

Do we live mindful of others around us is a question worth pondering!

To live self absorbed would create a divided society!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Light in darkness !

This was the only lamp cluster that reamined lighted in a hall when the electricity went off for a short while in a large hall. That was bright enough till the other lights returned. 

It was during that short spell of relative darkness, I felt the value of being a 'light' in darkenss. 

The pro-democracy protest that is currently going on in Hong kong, India, and soem other parts of the world is a sign that soem people are determined to be a light in a alarming political inclinaiton to be autocratic, impositional and control human behaviour. The freedom of thought is in peril. 

When there is a dissenting voice, it is a light that gives us hope!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Stretching exercises

I was surprised to find this bird perform the neck exercises in between its flight. It is its head which guides its flight movements. Hence the stretching exercises! It also gives the bird a 360 degree view of its flight path before settign out!

Movements for action!

We move our body to keep the body trim and healthy. Hence the emphasis on regualr rhythm of body exercises in a planned way.

There is a realm of an inner dynamics of thoughts. We are prone to expereince diverse moods at work place or while relating to others. It is not necesary that we recieve gracious or warm rsponses to our initiatives. We are likely to feel let down and carry that mood within us for long. The encounter expereinces can foster us or disturb us. 

The inner pratice of returnign to our centre is one way of restoring the wellness within. The centering prayer is one such habit, which keeps the inner wellnes fresh and alive. A habit of taking three minutes of returnig to recite a prayer, 'I am quiet within. Lord have mercy on me' is a practice that has helped me often to expreince freedom from worrying thoughts or anxiety or after effects of a difficult encounter. 

This inner re-oreintation is what gives the spirit wihitn to feel refreshed! 

What is salt if its saltiness is lost! What is human realtuonship if it is not mutually refreshing!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)