A small Bronzed Drongo

The frequent aerial sallies from its perch on a cable drew my attention to  a new habit I had not noticed in the black Drongo birds who frequent our garden. 

It was while looking at the pictures after downloading form the camera, I noticed that this Drone had bronzed feathers in its tail and around the neck interspersed with it overall blackish glossy coat. It did not have a forked till as one would normally find.

I noticed it again perched with Magpie Robins on a dry branch bed our well. It is therefore comfortable to mix with other species of birds. I waited for a while to listen to its bird call.

Later in the morning I noticed it on a cable with its whistling bird call to which another Bronzed Drongo responded. 

As I was returning form the morning walk, I felt delighted at the small things in life which happen each day, which leave some lasting impressions. It was delight to spot a Bronzed Drongo for the first time !

I recall what a family from Canada who visited us in the department last week told me. 'You seem to have time for us.  You were listening without interrupting. You seemed keen to know us..' These words remained with me. The family was wanting to be known for their journey experiences with their child. 

A the end of that hour long consultations, what transpired within me was an experience of being touched by a family who during their self disclosure felt affirmed and  accepted!

It is one thing to listen to others, it is yet another thing to receive them into our hearts to feel for them and indicate connection with their circumstances. This family having waited for a consultation with a specialist for a year came to India seeking help for their child who had subtle seizures. 

The Bronzed Drongo might have been in our garden for a while or at least visiting during  their territorial coverage during the day. They escaped my attention. 

I felt that many families might escape my attention from their genuine unspoken needs till I am open enough to let them feel comfortable to share their hurting story of anguish and stress!

Becoming present to them in an open ended way, as families narrate their story is what is needed, rather than listening just to make a diagnosis. Their stories are confessions of their formative process while living in adverse circumstances. Those families are looking for listeners and co-travellers. 

Spotting a Bronzed drongo was a chance occurrence; but that experience reminded me of the need to be a vigilant and be a discerning listener and observer  in daily life at home and at work! 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

The stillness before movement!

 

The kingfisher perched on a cable had another cable adjacent to it just above its body. It was still for a long time before it moved its head to another direction. 

To move while perched between two live cables is a precarious act. 

It was a solemn sight leading me to a train of thoughts. 

What can one do while placed in a precarious situation!

Remain still! That is what the Kingfisher did.

What does it mean to be still! Was it just a bodily stillness! Unlikely!

It was a stillness of composure. 

I went through a harsh circumstance at my work place for about two years now. I had no room for movement as I felt imposed with an opinion from many around me as as a 'spent force'. I heard this from a colleague, 'your golden years are over and it is time to retire'! I heard similar words from the administrators of the institution where I work. I was reduced to a corner with no moving space. 

I was left with no choice! It was a good enough reason to quit at that time, when one was made to feel redundant. But something within me restrained me from taking that step. I remained frozen not knowing what to do for a while. It dawned on me at that time, that I was placed in that situation to be still and wait for a surprise to unfold!

As I offered to welcome children every day, inspite of the COVID season, even when I was advised to stay away from offering consultation due to to my co-morbidities associated with age, the situation changed. I dispensed with the advanced booking for consultation. I felt ready to welcome every one who dropped in. I was ready  to welcome about ten to twelve children each day.  Children and families who were made to wait even for three months for an appointment felt relieved that they could get a time on the same day or the next day! It is now a year since this change occurred. Although I return from work only by seven pm in the evening, I return with a deep sene of gratitude for having been still without reacting and waiting for the surprise to unfold. It is true that I went to work tearfully and returned similarly on many days feeling heavy for having been caught in a web suspicion about my motive and ability!

The prolonged stillness of the Kingfisher till it moved its neck to look downward, spoke to me of times in one's life when stillness alone is the way forward!

It was during this period of staying confined to do what was still possible, the idea of revising the developmental appraisal protocol occurred to me. A professional colleague took the idea forward and now we have about thirty protocols in a user friendly way. The developmental abilities of children can be plotted on a graph for easy interpretation. The same person offered to compile a developmental observation protocol for monitoring children at home when they are below five years. That led to two publications for parents, one for observing children who are developmentally well and another for children who are developmentally challenged. 

I feel moved by what stillness can bring into our lives! Instead of reacting or defending, if only we can be be still when placed in difficult situations, the outcome would be similar surprises. 

We often cannot choose our circumstances. But we can choose to live and relate to the circumstances. It was a learning phase. I feel blessed that Anna cared to tarry in faith when I walked through this valley experience. 

Our circumstances have a formative role in our lives. 

To live peaceably in such situations is a challenge! If it can happen we would find the moving space sooner than later!

Now I feel grateful to those who nudged me into stillness and awakened me to walk into a new path of opportunities!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Together for 47 years!

As I stood watching this pair of Kingfishers perched in a shrub, beside the stream below our property, my memory went back to the years that Anna and I have been together.  This pair of Kingfishers were perched in two branches close to each other, both looking ahead!

That engaging look into what is ahead drew my attention to a frequent conversation that Anna and I have had for a while about what we are to be as a couple in the years ahead of us!

This sight was in the twilight, when the Sun was yet to rise in the horizon! So there was a restriction to the distant vision even for the King fishers who have an exceptional distance vision! 

While both of us are in our early seventies, we keep asking to each other about being more creative and effective in the way we can bring encouragement to others. 

The routine for us begins with a meeting around the table in our study early in the morning with a cup of coffee. That is when we have a conversation time of thoughts that have surfaced within us during the night or in the morning. The time of reading and prayer leads us to the events of the day. 

Anna is at home during the day and I spend the day at the hospital. 

The evening time around the supper table is another conversation time with recollections and reflections. The habit of closing the day with reading and prayer sometimes get crowded out with pending work. We have been trying to revive our singing habit; we have conversations with our children on most Sundays. 

During our years at Chennai and Vellore we had the habit of spending about four hours on Wednesday evenings in a retreat house for practicing silence and reflection ending with a meal in the retreat house. Those experiences bridged us into the journey towards each other and  in treasuring communion between ourselves 

We have had a Friday Forum for a few friends from our time at CMC Vellore. Now it continues by an on-line meeting. This was our way to introduce the theme of Life, Living and Learning

We have been used to taking a break of four weeks once in two to three years during our times at Chennai and Vellore  and spending that time in a retreat setting along with few others. That became times for revising life, the fruits of which remain with us even now and anchor us in our faith journey. 

We felt accompanied by senior friends for most part of our married life. We recall association with few friends with whom we have been involved in their formative journey. They live in different places in the world and live out their vocation. 

It was in our work places we experienced the joy of fellowship and partnership. There were occasional strain in relationships at work place, but the memories of joy subsume those stray events. 

Both of us from early in our marriage intended our home to be a place of our formation. So listening and sharing became the ambience of our relationship. We listened more than we argued. We sought for a middle path when our polarised positions restricted us. When we made wrong choices we learned to understand each other rather than blame each other. We pursued the practice of co-parenting, weekly family times, and week-ends set apart for children.

We practiced reading to each other, reading to children and writing a journal of our experiences. In the recent years I converted it into this blog, while Anna gathers photographs to recollect events and stories. 

We have disagreed and had different opinions on some occasions.  We practiced structured conversations when our emotions overlook us, so that we could offer space to each other to speak and listen. By practicing to be silent and reflect, we are learning to discern the way forward when we have differing opinions on some matters. Both of us have been on an incremental journey of giving and forgiving. 

Our longing for each other has grown because we  offer space to each other to grow and the result has been an expanding common space between us. 

We are different, but the common ground between us is without a boundary or conditions!

We live to love and be an offering to each other...we get up and start all over again when we  have fallen or hurt each other. 

The joy of living is in discovering the depth beyond what is known! So it has been a journey towards each other in pursuit of the 'two becoming one'! The journey itself is the destiny of relationship in marriage!

While these thoughts were surfacing in my mind, following the sighting of the Kingfisher pair, I returned to the cottage. I was greeted by this jasmine bush, with its pair of flowering branches. We are ageing, but reminded to be flowering and staying graceful!

The joy of living is an experience, because of an eternal truth, spoken by Jesus of Nazareth, 'I am the vine and you are the branches'!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

 

The ageing path!

Each year added to our lives enhances value to our lives. 

For some of us who live in the seventh decade of our life a year ahead is even more special! 

It was while watching this flower in our garden during a week, I got a glimpse of the physical effects of ageing. The flower had the petals bright and elegant to look at when it blossomed. The petals began to fold and the petals showed signs of weariness by the seventh day. Although the flower is still in its stalk, it looks shrivelled and different from how it looked  on the first day.

The insects and bees visited the flower during the first few days. When the nectar was no more in the flower, the visitors deserted the flower. 

What followed was the invasion of the fungus in the centre of the flower, turning the centre into a greenish hue. 

While they are the changes that occurred to a flower, similar things happen to people as they move into the phase of being senior citizens. 

There is natural reduction in the social relevance of senior citizens as they receive more than they can give, when they grow older. They get distanced from the events around them as younger people lead by bringing fresh ideas and options. Of course the bodily limitations and attending to them consume most of the attention of senior citizens. 

And it is no loss to be in the seventies in another sense. We in our seventies can be like the tall avenue trees in a park or on the road side offering shade and being a shelter for the birds of the air. They receive the noxious carbon dioxide and give away oxygen to the air!

During my several years in the governing council of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, I watched the way the senior members, some of them in late seventies or early eighties were like the tall trees. They made the deliberations rich by the occasional intervention to refresh rest of us with history, heritage and vocation of the college. They were path finders when discussions got estranged or got muddled in conflicting opinions. The way some of them sat through long discussions silently and spoke only when a word of wisdom was needed, I realised how the senior citizens can be torch bearers to lead others into light. 

Now that I am in my mid seventies, I keep thinking of my new role at work place and in some other limited situations where I am occasionally involved. I sense my role in being a companion to others  by admiring younger people for what and how they do. To be a cheer leader to encourage the younger people to go on their journey of exploration and innovation!  

The words of apostle Paul in I Cor.13:11 comes to guide me further in defining my role in this   phase of my life, "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think as a child, reason as a child;  when I became a man, I did away with childish things.." The manhood or womanhood reaches its fullness when we advance in age. To be seventy or eighty is therefore a privilege. That is when would be ready to leave behind impulsivity, arrogance, selfishness, self promotion, pride, possessiveness, control,  and pursuit of success somehow! 

Instead, to be older in age would mean that we are clothed with integrity of character, honesty in personal life, generosity towards others, tolerant, altruistic, patient and self-giving.

That would be the fullness of life or what is often referred to as being a mature person.  Just as an avenue tree is a giver and shelter provider, the senior citizens are to be in such a role. 

Dr William cutting from London, is an outstanding example of such a fullness of life. While he cares for his wife who has multiple health needs, remembers to write and share his thoughts to encourage and refresh some of us. 

Our friend Gisela from Berlin sends a message almost daily to Anna. An amazing example of self giving while getting older!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

 

 

A bird song of contentment!

 

I watched this Kingfisher beside our garden perched on a cable and staying vigilant for its morning feed. It flew into the air, which was too fast for me to capture in the camera, and returned to the cable with a fly between its bills. Having swallowed the fly bird call. What followed was a sight that occupied my thoughts during the day. 

Another king fisher landed on an adjacent cable with its feed between the bills. It was during its flight to the cable it caught its feed. The body language they shared between themselves for the next few minutes before one of them flew away was interesting to watch. They shared the language of contentment and communication. 

In just a few days I would have completed my ten years of association with the MOSC Medical College, where Anna and I served after our retirement from the Christian  Medical College, Vellore. 

As I reflect on the ten years, I recall how its former Medical Director Dr K.C.Mammen suggested to us to consider being at the MOSC Medical College for the next phase of our lives. That is what we did. 

Anna helped in stabilising the Pharmacology department and began the research activities for medical students and created the Institutional Review Board, which she nurtured by holding faculty and student training programme in research methodology. It created a new process of engagement in the academic level. The students travelled to conferences in India and abroad to present scientific papers of their research findings and returned with laurels. Anna was able to help in the publication forty papers in different journals. 

I was involved in developing a facility for the developmentally challenged children. That facility is now into its tenth year. It went through ups and downs. Every time there is a measure of stability one or more professionals would leave on account of marriage or higher studies. There was a crisis during the pre-COVID season where less than fifty children visited us in a month as against about 200 in the previous years. That necessitated a change in the way we ran our services. Now after about eighteen months of revising the way we function, the children and families who seek help have expanded beyond our expectation. The regular services and the on-line services seem to offer more access to families. 

A conversation with a family of Indian nationals, visiting us from Ireland gave a new dimension to what we are called to consider. A five years old child with a large hyper pigmented skin lesion escaped being noticed for the underlying dysmorphic syndrome. When the therapy services which they sought for six months, by staying in India, did not seem to improve the skills of the child, the family needed help to know the way forward. When I suggested that their son's developmental challenges are related to a Neuro-cutaneous disorder which needed a more generous and creative approach, they felt that they needed a different outlook than what hey lived with. 

Among a few other instances in June, which is when I complete ten years in this work place, this incident gave me an affirmation about the value of being present to people who feel burdened and drained. 

When I was returning home at 8 pm yesterday at the end of the day, I felt a warmth within me of joy and contentment for having been in this position as a listener to path founders in life. During the on line meetings we have conversations with parents from eight countries. It is during these meetings, I have been made aware of the encouragement, listening can bring to families. 

When people speak, they are looking for listeners who receive them and hear what hey say. 

This message came to me while watching the Kingfishers. When one Kingfisher broke into a bird song another Kingfisher flew in. While on the way to be present, from where the bird song arose, the Kingfisher found its feed.

The two met to be present to each other, one after its feed and the other with its feed. This is meeting of the hearts. 

What surprises me as I close the tenth year of my time at MOSC Medical College, is the experiences of meeting with parents, which on many occasions turned out to be a meeting of hearts. 

This is the reason for joy and contentment that I am given to live with! It enthuses me that in giving, we receive to feel full and be overflowing!   

When the Kingfisher gave away its bird call it received a visitor! 

What more can I give away!

I want to be on this journey to give away more of the little I have!

The little I can give would be large enough for someone else! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A Sunday morning in our garden!

I look forward to the sights each morning in our garden. I was surprised by the colourful sights around our cottage yesterday. 

All these flowers would last only for a few days. But during the time they remain open and are fresh, bees, insects and birds visit them for nectar. 

They are present to whoever comes to them. They are available and hospitable to all the visitors. They do not choose or categorise!

During some of our conversations, there is a tendency to speak of others based on our likes and choices and not based on the attitude of universal hospitality!

I feel grieved how in the recent years the political ideology has been used to categorise people as those who are acceptable or not acceptable. There is a language of hate and confrontation. In the state where Anna and I live was known for friendliness between politicians of all hues of ideology. Now friendships get confined to people of similar in ideology or party affiliation. 

I wonder whether we can affirm our humanity and belonging and transcend our differences! 

Each flower in this blog is unique and yet they together make the garden. 

I carry this message to my heart seeking to revive me in my attitude towards others. The people around us are those who in some way or other make our lives comfortable. I long to see each of them beyond the colour of their skin, beliefs, traditions, life style...!

A least likeable person was Zaccheus (Luck.19: 1-10) because he was a tax collector and a government official known to extract money from people. But Jesus of Nazareth befriended him and offered to visit his home. Jesus pronounced blessing on him and his family at the end of his visit to his home. What an encounter! Zaccheus since then lived with a vocation mindful of others and distributing his wealth to those who needed his support. 

Our society is the garden of humans of all hues. The less or least likeable also need a space for their presence and expression. Our voyage in life is to befriend those who feel suffocated by their habitual patterns and indulgences. 

The hospitable flowers became symbol for me to work on expanding my consciousness of hospitality!

M.C.Mathew(text and phot)

Between arriving and leaving!

It is now ten years since I started working at MOSC Medical college. My contract with the institution comes to an end shortly and the time of moving on is before me. 

Between the time of arriving and leaving, the ten years have brought many memories to live with. 

In  a desire to start a speciality service in child development, I envisaged a facility which would be academically sound and advanced in perspective towards bringing fullness to children who are developmentally challenged. 

Three dimensions unfolded before me during the last ten years. 

The first is that, children with developmental challenges begin the experiences of coping with their special needs in an environment which is ready to help them and their families. However children as our resource of learning about their unspoken needs and of their families is still not at the centre stage of our consideration. The issues confronting child development of developmentally challenged children would need a highly individualised approach. No two children are alike although they have the same diagnostic label. That is because of the different causal pathways making them developmentally challenged. The confounders and co-morbidities make this even more divergent between children. The developmental outcome is influenced by polymorphic influences. This calls for an audit of child development intensely through the optic of the potential resident in a child. A professional in child development has the vocation to accompany a child to his or her fullness of life.

The second is of a new consciousness about pedagogy-childhood teaching and learning process. There were some opportunities to be associated with a school particularly with its programme for children between four and ten years. It was during this process I got a sense of the nearness that was needed between the school and home of children. The nearness between teachers and parents currently is for transacting the academic progress of a child. A child escapes being known for his needs and gifts. The classroom is a theatre for performance and is not essentially an ambience to promote interactive interface between children and adults. Children are expected to learn from adults, but do adults learn from children! The science of pedagogy is so much inclined towards teaching that a deliberate shift towards the learning process and the conditions influencing it during the early years of childhood need greater attention. In that sense child development and pedagogy are two sides of the same coin. 

The third is about parenting and home life of children. The parenting functions are a spectrum of engagements between children and prints. Now the media, grandparents, care givers, child minders and other care givers take the place of parenting roles. Most parents are yet to think about the adverse implications of loss by abdicating their role to others. There is marriage preparation counselling opportunities for couples. But such a programme is not in practice for parenting. The preparation for responsible parenthood starting from planning for pregnancy, preparing for the arrival of a child and accompanying him or her during infancy, toddler season, pre-school period, early school period, mid-school period, high school period, adolescence, young adulthood, etc needs enormous attention. If we want to promote wholistic child development, preparing parents for investing into the lives of children need a formal orientation to parents. 

The above consciousness about three dimension in child development dawned on me during the last ten years. 

I prepare to leave shortly my present position from the department where I work with immense gladness for having been further enlightened during this season in my life. The last ten years in the span of thirty eight years in Child Development gave me an enlarging experience. 

The first fourteen years at the ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre at Chennai, the next eleven years at the Developmental Paediatrics Unit at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, the next three years at the Developmental Paediatrics and Child Neurology Unit at Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences and the recent ten years at the Developmental Paediatrics department at MOSC Medial College, Kolenchery have been years of growing and enlarging. 

The people with whom I was given to work with, became companions in this formative journey. They showed me the way and made provisions for me along the way. They were people who shared their life experiences to enrich the personal and professional experiences. 

The parents and children were another big influence in my life. They taught me to grow in the art of listening and observing. They showed me a path that I had not known before.

Anna was the soulmate in this discovering journey. She took major responsibilities for creating  the good traditions of ASHIRVAD in its vocation of caring and sharing. She saw ahead of me many matters which helped ASHIRVAD to pursue its mission.

Between arriving in the discipline of Child Development and now preparing to leave, so much has happened! 

They were years of celebration! Now memories shall last!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

An enquiring journey!

It is now at least 25 years since I have habitually palpated the cranial fontanelles and sutures of the skull, while examining children. The fontanelles after closure are not palpable normally. The sutures are also not normally palpable except for a faint trace of them if one were to palpate over their location intently. 

The palpable Metopic, Lamdoidal, Coronal or Sagtittal sutures in children led me to search for a cause for the premature closure of these sutures in children. About eighty percent of the developmentally challenged children had one or more of these sutures closed prematurely! That needed an explanation. 

It was this which led me to look into the level of vitamin D and to my surprise a similar percent of children had low levels of vitamin D. The others had reduced growth velocity of had size.

Since documenting this with a desire to find an association between low levels of vitamin D and premature closure of cranial sutures, I feel we are nearing a direction for seeking for further clarity. 

Since supplementing with vitamin D, whether these sutures become less prominent is a worthwhile question. As bony union is less likely to have occurred, the fibrous union might get undone over a period of time if we can maintain the vitamin D levels in the serum. This hypothesis needs authentic evidence. I feel inclined to keep it as an active question for enquiry! 

The fact that the X-ray of the skull showed the sutural line even when the sutures were palpable might mean that the bony union had not taken place. So the hypothesis before me is that the palpable sutures might only suggest in most situations, reversible fibrous sutural closure  and not Craniosynostosis. The few 3D CT scan of the skull done made this even more clear. 

I have had some other questions similar to this keeping me inquisitive during my forty years of practicing of Developmental Neurology. More of these questions surfaced in the recent 25 years. 

Every day I go to work, I look forward to exercising my clinical skills and feeling my way through some questions that remain alive in my mind!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The risky path!

Anna and I take a cruise into the backwaters in Ernakulum a few times a year mainly to accompany visitors.  The cruise is a delightful experience as it takes us to the mouth of the Bay of Bengal where the backwaters join the sea. 

What often intrigued me is the sight of the foot Path leading the boat. The makeshift  path leading to the boat with uneven surface with railing with huge gaps, through which a child can easily slip into the water below, is a frightful sight. Hundreds of passengers use this shaky foot path each day. There are about fifty boats berthed in this site, each having such a shaky access to reach the boat. To me it is a disgrace, when we look at it from the point of safety!

The other side of this is a vivid illustration of the life we live. In order to reach where we are to go, the path can be often unchartered, shaky and unpaved!

The walk along such a path can make us feel weary and lonely!

That might be the reason why many start on the life's journey but get way laid due to the shaky path they are called to tread on!

The story of the wounded traveller, waylaid while on a journey, told by Jesus of Nazareth, referred to, as the parable of the Good Samaritan is pointer to a reality we can live with. Although distressed while on his way, the wounded person was attended to by a stranger to carry him to safety. 

It occurred to me as I was pondering over the shaky paths I was called to take, that someone or other accompanied me during such times in a mysterious way. I recall the turning points in my life because someone cared to steady the path by accompaniment. 

At the fortieth anniversary year of ASHIRVAD, Anna and I remember how Dr William Cutting and Dr V.I.Mathen facilitated ASHIRVAD to partner with the Christian Medical College, Vellore to create the first Developmental Paediatrics specialty in any Medical College India in 1997. At a time when the path ahead looked shaky, both these friends made us move forward by their steadfast support. Where we are now in the 25th year of the Developmental Paediatrics Unit at CMC is a tribute to them and for their vision. 

We can be companions to others to make their path more steady and purposeful! There are many who walk alone on a slippery ground. 

To live that vocation of being a companion to others is an opportunity for their wellness and for our growth!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Wounded, but flourishing!

One fascinating sight at the Bolgotty palace ground at Ernakulum, is its trees in and around the swimming pool. The towering trees with its canopy is shade giving and a shelter providing for birds. They add an elegant look to the palace premise as they merge with the the architecturally unique buildings in the compound. 

It was by chance that I happened to go near to one of the trees. The bifurcated stems of one tree carry the weight of the tall tree, which spreads out its several branches in different directions bearing the thick foliage.   

One stem had a deep hollow downward, the depth of which could not be ascertained in the darkness within the hollow. Several of its branches had encircling saporophytes growing on them.   

I stood looking at this sight with my biography surfacing within me. This tree was certainly older than me. It withstood several seasons of storms, the decay to one of its stems with its xylem and phloem eaten away by parasites and most the branches invaded by the saprophytes. Yet it was a vibrant tree with a stately presence adding to the history of the place elegantly. 

The tree was wounded but it endured it to fulfil its mission as a tree. It potential was not reduced by what it had suffered from!

Soon I shall move on to another year in my life! My biography which has many seasons of discoveries and movements of joy and contentment along with some hurts and wounds. The disappointments dragged me into a valley experiences of sorrow and regrets now and then. But what stands out in my story line is the strength they provided to be present where I was placed. Although the inner canvas of my life bears the marks of disappointments and anxious times, what makes my life resonates with hope and cheer is the joy of living that I have been given at each turning point or a cross road! 

I was reminded of this in a moving way yesterday. A family with their child with multiple developmental challenges told me a story of their current involvement with a few friends who too have children with developmental needs. They reach out to them to listen and support even when they live with their only child who have enormous daily needs. Their story in the words of Henri Nouwen is that of being a 'wounded healer'!

I recalled occasions when I slipped into self pity and blaming others and lost the sense of direction. The events at my work place and affairs connected with another institution in the last four years, where I was actively involved, consumed and burdened me for a while. I walked the path with a limb. Looking back, they too became resources to grow into a new orientation to life- living with an open heart and mind, where circumstances turn out to be formative in function. 

When the gardener provided three flowering plants in the car parking slot on his own, to keep the slot for me, it became a symbol of the many provisions and encouragements I receive along the way. For six months, there were many occasions when others parked in my slot and I had to search for a parking place in the morning. Seeing this predicament, the gardener reached out to me to protect the slot by placing the pots in the parking space when I take out the car in the evening. Since then, the parking slot remains vacant when I arrive in the morning. Given without asking for it!

Every time I encounter a story of grief and loss or the memories of my journey through darkness returns to me, there is a clarity of the larger gain I received through such experiences.  I feel grateful for having been protected from despair in such situations. 

The tree stood exposing its hurt but with a message of triumphing over them!

Life is for living in this spirit of spreading wide and offering shelter and comfort to others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The migration process!

The bird migration is a regular phenomenon we observe when we are in the vicinity of the Arabian sea. The sea route the birds take provide them an unobstructed flight path. 

What surprised me was the height at which they fly when we look at them! They might be used to high atmospheric pressure and low level of oxygen!

They get used to living under some adverse situations!

The nation wide distress expressed by young people by arson, violence and burning trains over the new recruitment policy to the defence services is one sign of reaction to adversity when it is overwhelming. 

I wonder how the government of India took to such a gross departure from normal recruitment to defence services, which gave young people an opportunity to good employment and retirement benefits, that too at a time when people are still struggling with post-COVID economic distress!

A few weeks back, it was adverse remarks by some spokespersons of a national political party against the prophet around whom a religious faith tradition exists; then it was the backlash from the nation around us because of which the national party sent apology although belatedly.  Even before the dust settled on that ugly turn, this unilateral declaration of a major change in policy without wetting it through a parliamentary discussion, came as a shock to job aspirants. There is no justification for violence as the nation is committed to the path of non-violence and peaceful democratic representations or protest. The government has faulted; the young people took the protests in a self defeating way. No form of anger can be justified if it turns out to harm and hurt others or destroy property! 

Oh, what form of governance have in this country and what form of protests we create. Does a wrong need to be fought by another wrong!

I was moved to read that Ms Sonia Gandhi form her hospital bed sending out a message to young people, 'protest by all means, but no violence'! I wish the Prime Minister of India could address the nation to pacify people!

We suffered a year long farmer's protests. Are we going to suffer from a national disaster even when people are struggling to overcome the distress of economic melt down. The demonetisation which was projected to benefit seemed to have done more harm than good. The new farm policy did no good to farmers. Now the new defence recruitment! Will it bring any good! 

While this is going on a section of religious fanatics are on a path to inflame the atmosphere with targeting other religious groups. 

A nation is wounded and is in distress! 

Who feels for its people! 

The political parties seem to fight for their existence. The language of tolerance and respect is replaced by aggression and confrontation. 

A nation that was born 75 years ago is now needing a new ethos and character for its continuance as a democratic nation!

We by our current behaviour have disinherited Mahatma Gandhi and his peaceful approach to difficult situations!

With opportunities for Indians in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, England, etc. many professional are seeking for migration. There is a four fold increase to this migration instinct. 

There is sufficient reason for younger people to seek for better prospects overseas! I wish the political system in India would get renewed to pursue people friendly governance!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

 

On a Sunday Morning!

 I am amazed how flowers remain fresh and fragrant even during this inclement weather!

There is so much to be thankful for!

Make life a song of gratefulness !

Turn conversations to be edifying and uplifting!

Spread cheerfulness whenever possible!

These were my thoughts, at the end of walking in the garden!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)